HISTORY  OF 

GERMAN  CIVILIZATION 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


Ex  Libris 
ISAAC   FOOT 


HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK    •    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO 
SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LIMITED 

LONDON   •    BOMBAY   •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  LTD. 

TORONTO 


HISTORY 


OF 


GERMAN  CIVILIZATION 


A  GENERAL  SURVEY 


BY 

ERNST    RICHARD,   PD.D. 

01 

LECTURER    ON   THE    HISTORY   OF    GERMAN    CIVILIZATION 
COLUMBIA   UNIVERSITY 


SECOND  REVISED  EDITION 


Wefoj  gorft 

THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1913 

AU  right*  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,    1911, 

BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  October,  1911.     Reprinted 
March,  1913. 


J.  8.  Cashing  Co.  —  Berwick  A  Smith  Oo. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


TO 
THE  GERMANISTIC   SOCIETY  OF  AMERICA 

IN  GRATEFUL  APPRECIATION  OF  SUCCESSFUL 

EFFORTS  TO  PROMOTE  THE  KNOWLEDGE 

AND  STUDY 

OF 
GERMAN   CIVILIZATION  IN   AMERICA 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 

IT  gives  me  pleasure  to  have  an  opportunity  here  to 
express  my  appreciation  of  the  kindness  with  which  the 
first  edition  of  this  book,  published  only  a  year  ago, 
has  been  received  by  the  press  here  as  well  as  in  Great 
Britain  and  Germany.  The  reviews  were  both  encour- 
aging and  helpful  and  did  justice  to  the  intentions  of 
the  author. 

Before  this,  no  book  on  the  History  of  German  Civili- 
zation was  published  in  English.  And  yet  there  was  a 
pressing  need  for  it,  in  view  of  the  faulty  information 
as  to  German  character  and  German  institutions  found 
everywhere  in  the  United  States  and  in  Great  Britain, 
especially  in  the  daily  press.  My  book  tries  to  supply 
this  need.  It  traces  sources  and  currents  of  historical 
development  from  which  alone  the  German  man  and 
the  German  people  of  to-day  can  be  understood.  In 
this  it  was  less  my  endeavor  to  tell  nice  little  stories 
than  to  show  the  relations  which  explain  the  present  by 
the  past,  the  products  of  civilization  and  culture  by 
their  time.  In  the  limited  space  offered  by  the  pages 
of  a  single  volume  there  was,  of  course,  only  an  oppor- 
tunity for  rambles  and  vistas  into  the  wide  field  whose 
scientific  investigation  has  just  begun.  Though  I  may 
not  bring  anything  new  to  one  familiar  with  German 
history,  I  still  believe  to  have  thrown  new  light  on 
some  old  conceptions  and  to  have  contributed  in  a 
modest  way  to  a  better  knowledge  of  the  German 
national  soul. 

iii 


iv  PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 

But  the  book  is  not  without  a  message  for  the  Ger- 
man reader.  It  is  hoped  that  it  will  help  to  rid  the 
Germanic  nations  of  the  habit  to  look  for  their  intellec- 
tual ancestors  in  the  Orient  and  on  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean  Sea.  We  should  remember  that  the 
evolution  of  our  family  of  nations  is  flowing  down  the 
ages  in  a  continuous  current  of  five  thousand  years. 
It  receives,  indeed,  in  its  floods  the  products  of  foreign 
civilizations,  but  rids  itself  again  of  everything  not 
assimilable  to  the  Germanic  nature.  Just  the  present 
time  seems  to  be  a  period  of  renewed  purification,  and 
it  becomes  more  and  more  clear  that  the  essentials  of 
the  modern  world  are  fundamentally  Germanic.  That 
does  not  mean  that  we  have  not  assimilated  most  valu- 
able contributions  from  the  outside.  But  the  German 
man  as  well  as  his  Anglo-Saxon  cousin  ought  to  learn 
at  last  to  look  at  the  world's  history  with  his  own  eyes 
and  not  through  the  Roman  spectacles  once  forced  upon 
him  by  his  monastic  and  humanist  schoolmasters. 
This  might  at  the  same  time  strengthen  their  con- 
sciousness of  the  fact  that  both  their  peoples  have  been 
brought  up  in  the  same  nursery. 

Especially  the  numerous  descendants  of  German 
stock  born  in  English-speaking  countries  ought  to  get 
from  this  book  a  better  understanding  of  their  own 
forefathers. 

A  careful  observation  of  chronology  hi  historical  nar- 
rative cuts  off  the  different  threads  of  evolution  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  prevent  frequently  the  recognition  of 
their  significance.  I  have  tried  to  enter  the  lines  of 
different  tendencies  in  such  places  where  they  add  de- 
cisive features  to  the  total  picture. 

I  have  not  tried  to  write  a  book  for  scholars.  I 
have  dispensed,  therefore,  with  bibliographic  and  other 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION  v 

scholarly  paraphernalia.  It  is  meant,  indeed,  for  the 
reader  who  likes  to  do  his  own  thinking.  The  catalogue 
of  any  good  library  will  furnish  a  bibliography,  if 
desired ;  the  authors  mentioned  in  the  text  of  this  book 
may  serve  as  guides  in  selecting. 

In  this  edition  some  errors  have  been  corrected.  Cer- 
tain developments  during  the  last  year  seemed  impor- 
tant enough  to  change  a  few  statements. 

E.  R. 

DEUTBCHES  HAUS,  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY, 
JANUARY  15,  1913. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

BOOK  THE  FIRST 
GERMANIC  ANCESTRY  —  WANDERINGS 

CHAPTER  PA'iE 

I.    MEANING  AND  SCOPE  OF  HISTORY  OF  CIVILIZATION 

AND  ITS  RELATIONS  TO  NATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY  .        3 
II.    THE  SCANDINAVIAN  THEORY  OF  INDO-EUROPEAN  OKI- 
GINS .j»,.r^»-..     •.,",.»       •      10 

III.  GERMANIC  ORIGINS 27 

IV.  THE  GERMANS  IN  THEIR  FIRST  CONTACT  WITH  GR.ECO- 

ROMAN  CIVILIZATION 34 

I.  Their  Country  and  Mode  of  Life. 

V.    THE  GERMANS  IN  THEIR  FIRST  CONTACT  WITH  GR.ECO- 

ROMAN  CIVILIZATION       ,....,.        .        .        .      50 

II.  Civil  Organization.     Individual  and  Society. 
VI.    THE  GERMANS  IN  THEIR  FIRST  CONTACT  WITH  GRACO- 

ROMAN  CIVILIZATION 60 

III.  Law,  Poetry,  Art,  Religion. 

VII.    THE  MIGRATIONS 72 

I.  The  Kimbric  Invasion  of  Italy  and  Ariovistus' 

Fight  with  Caesar. 

VIII.    CONVERSION  TO  CHRISTIANITY 85 

IX.    THE  MIGRATIONS 91 

II.  The  New  Grouping  of  the  States.     The  German 

of  this  Period.     Roman  Civilization  and  the 
Germans. 

BOOK   THE   SECOND 
THE  CREATION  OF  THE  FATHERLAND,  600-1400 

X.     THE  STATE  OF  THE  FRANKS 99 

XI.     THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE  OF  THE  GERMAN  NATION   .        .     104 

Awakening  Sense  of  Nationality. 


viii  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAO« 

XII.    THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM  IN  GERMANY         .        .        .111 

XIII.  THE  MONASTERIES 125 

Education  and  Literature  in  the  Earlier  Middle 
Ages. 

XIV.  EMPEROR  AND  POPE 133 

XV.    CHIVALRY.    THE  CRUSADES 141 

XVI.    THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  GERMAN  SOIL  BY  GERMAN 

LABOR 155 

XVII.    THE  COLONIZATION  OF  THE  EAST    ....  170 
XVIII.    THE   FOUNDING    OF  THE   CITIES  ;  CASTLES,  BUR- 
GHERS, PEASANTS 175 

XIX.    MINING  AND  MONEY 180 

XX.    SOME  OF  THE  GREATER  EMPERORS  ....  183 

BOOK   THE   THIRD 

RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   GERMAN  NATION,   1400- 

1650 

XXI.    THE  RISE  OF  THE  CITIES 191 

I.  Commerce.     Craft.     Arts. 

XXII.     THE  RISE  OF  THE  CITIES 206 

II.  The  Change  of  Economic  Basis  and  its  Con- 

sequences.    Legal    and    Political    Develop- 
ment of  the  Cities. 

XXIII.  THE  HEIGHT  OF  NATIONAL  LIFE     ....    214 

About  the  Year  1500. 

XXIV.  RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 235 

The  Age  of  Luther. 

XXV.     HUMANISM  AND  RENAISSANCE  IN  GERMANY  .        .    258 
Education   after  Luther.      From  the  Journal  of 

Thomas  Platter. 
XXVI.     CHANGE  IN  GENERAL  CONDITIONS    ....    272 

Beginning  of  Decay. 

XXVII.    POPULAR  RISINGS.    POLITICAL  DEVELOPMENT  278 

XXVIII.     SUMMARY  OF   THE   DESTRUCTIVE   TENDENCIES   IN 

GERMAN  LIFE 284 

XXIX.    OF  THE  GREAT  WAR  299 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS 


IX 


BOOK   THE   FOURTH 

REGENERATION 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXX.    SURVIVALS  OF  CULTURE 309 

Development  of  German  Music. 

XXXI.     THE  AGE  OF  ABSOLUTISM  AND  FRENCH  INFLU- 
ENCE   318 

XXXII.    BEGINNING  OF  MODERN  SCIENCE  AND  INDUSTRY     342 
Discoveries  and  Inventions. 

XXXIII.  ACADEMIC  LIBERTY 356 

A  Short  but  Important  Chapter. 

XXXIV.  THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  .        .        .     359 

I.  General  State  of  German  Society.    Pietism. 

Rationalism. 
XXXV.     THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  .        .        .    376 

II.  The  King. 

XXXVI.    THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  .        .        .    393 

III.  Strengthening   of  National   Feeling.       Im- 

provements.    Imitators. 
XXXVII.    GERMAN  IDEALISM 398 

I.  Reaction     against     Rationalism.        Gellert. 

Klopstock.     Storm  and  Stress.     Lessiug. 
Winckelmann.     Herder. 
XXXVIII.    GERMAN  IDEALISM  . 408 

II.  Kant. 

XXXIX.    GERMAN  IDEALISM 415 

III.  Its  Culmination.    Schiller  and  Goethe.    The 

German  Religion. 


BOOK   THE   FIFTH 
THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.    THE  NEW  EMPIRE 

XL.    GERMANY  ABOUT  1800 425 

XLI.     ROMANTICISM.     DOMINANT  THEORIES  OF  LIFE    .  436 
XLII.     DOWNFALL  AND  RISE.     LIBERALISM.     POLITICAL 

REACTION  WITHIN,  WEAKNESS  WITHOUT          .  442 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS 


XLIII. 

XLIV. 
XLV. 
XL  VI. 

XL  VII. 
INDEX 

THE   GROWTH 

TILL   1847    . 

1848  TO  1870 
THE  REIGN  OF 
NON-POLITICAL 
CENTURY    . 
THE  REIGN  OF 

OF    LIBERALISM  AND   NATIONALISM 

THE  FIRST  EMPEROR 
CURRENTS  DURING  THE  NINETEENTH 

459 
470 
484 

493 
509 
533 

BOOK   THE   FIRST 
GERMANIC   ANCESTRY  — WANDERINGS 


CHAPTER  I 

MEANING  AND  SCOPE   OF  HISTORY  OF  CIVILIZATION  AND 
ITS   RELATIONS   TO    NATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

WE  live  in  a  time  when  the  intercourse  between  the 
most  widely  separated  nations  of  the  globe  has  be- 
come more  swift  and  more  active  than  it  was,  not 
many  years  ago,  between  different  parts  of  the  same 
country;  a  time  when  the  settlement  of  differences  of 
opinion  between  governments  by  peaceful  methods 
instead  of  the  brutalities  of  war  has  descended  from  the 
Utopian  realm  of  idealistic  dreamers  to  the  stage  of 
actual  politics ;  and  when  a  federation  of  the  civilized 
world  has  entered  the  realm  of  possibility.  Now  that 
the  principle  of  violence,  which  has  so  long  been  re- 
moved from  the  reciprocal  relations  of  individuals, 
is  beginning  to  be  removed  likewise  from  the  intercourse 
of  nations,  it  is  more  than  ever  important  that  the  peoples 
marching  abreast  in  the  great  army  of  civilization 
should  not  only  know  but  also  understand  each  other. 
Although  that  old  prejudice,  inherited  from  the  He- 
brews, Greeks,  and  Romans,  who  used  to  look  upon  all 
foreigners  as  inferior  beings,  has  not  entirely  dis- 
appeared, we  find,  nevertheless,  an  ever  increasing 
number  of  people  who  recognize  the  fact  that  their 
neighbors  have  some  merits,  that  our  modern  Western 
civilization  is  not  a  national  one,  and  that  every  nation 
has  contributed  and  is  contributing  her  share  to  the 
progress  of  all.  It  is  in  the  service  of  these  tendencies 

3 


4  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

that  the  present  sketches  from  the  History  of  German 
Culture  and  Civilization  are  placed  before  the  American 
public. 

The  term  History  of  Civilization  (German  Kultur- 
geschichte)  is  by  no  means  settled  or  uniform.  The 
Germans  make  a  very  clear  distinction  between  Civili- 
zation and  Culture.  Under  the  former  term  they  in- 
clude the  external  relations  of  men  to  each  other  and 
to  nature  as  expressed  in  the  organization  of  society  and 
in  material  progress.  Culture,  on  the  other  hand, 
refers  to  the  development  of  the  inner,  the  higher  forces 
of  man  as  expressed  in  philosophy,  science,  art,  and 
religion.  But  this  sharp  distinction  is  not  always  ad- 
hered to  even  in  German,  and  in  this  book  we.  shall  con- 
sider the  History  of  Civilization  as  the  science  which 
has  for  its  object  the  investigation  of  the  entire  material, 
intellectual,  and  spiritual  life  of  mankind  in  all  fields 
in  which  it  manifests  itself. 

Not  a  few  historians  of  the  old  school  deny  to  this 
comparatively  new  science  even  its  right  to  existence, 
and  the  public  at  large  usually  connects  with  it  the 
idea  of  a  description  of  customs  and  habits  of  times 
gone  by,  a  collection,  so  to  speak,  of  curiosities  and 
anecdotes.  But  one  of  the  greatest  philologists  de- 
clares it  to  be  the  "queen"  of  all  sciences,  and,  indeed, 
the  most  advanced  school  of  historians  does  not  rec- 
ognize any  kind  of  history,  except  as  a  part  of  the 
history  of  civilization.  In  other  words,  what  most  of 
us  in  our  school  days  learned  as  Universal  History,  to 
wit,  the  history  of  wars  and  of  the  growth  of  states, 
has  interest  only  in  so  far  as  it  has  had  an  influence 
on  the  evolution  of  civilization,  or,  rather,  as  it  is  a 
symptom  of  a  stage  of  development. 

This  interpretation  of  history,  the  first  introduction 


I  MEANING  AND  SCOPE  5 

of  the  principle  of  evolution  into  the  science  of  human 
affairs,  we  owe  principally  to  Herder,  who  was  to  some 
extent  anticipated  by  Vico.  It  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant achievements  of  the  German  intellect,  and  as 
such  is  a  part  of  our  subject.  And  it  is  clear  that  with- 
out a  knowledge  of  the  history  of  civilization  of  man-- 
kind,  of  which  the  knowledge  of  nature,  hitherto  gained, 
forms  a  part,  there  is  no  possibility  of  an  intelligent, 
scientific  view  of  the  world  and  our  position  hi  it,  of 
what  the  Germans  call  eine  wissenschaftliche  Weltan- 
schauung. 

Thus  the  aims  of  our  science  seem  to  be  clearly  enough 
stated,  but  it  must  not  be  imagined  for  a  moment  that 
the  task,  indicated  by  this  definition,  has  been  brought 
to  any  point  near  achievement ;  the  very  formulation 
of  the  problem  is  indeed  hardly  older  than  our  young 
century. 

But  there  is  still  another  aspect  of  the  History  of 
Civilization.  It  may  be  considered  as  the  first  and 
most  important  work  imposed  on  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury to  restore  unity  to  the  human  soul,  the  activities 
of  which,  since  the  days  of  Alexandrine  scholarship, 
have  been  more  and  more  scattered,  to  get  at  last  the 
results  from  all  the  specialization  which  has  performed 
such  excellent  service  in  the  search  for  truth.  There 
is  no  doubt  that,  if  we  have  not  gone  too  far  in  specializa- 
tion, we  have,  at  least,  been  given  to  it  too  exclusively ; 
we  have  almost  lost  the  sense  of  the  integrity  of  the 
human  mind.  Let  us  hope  that  we  stand  at  the  begin- 
ning of  a  new  era  when  the  human  soul  will  again  bethink 
itself  of  its  unity  and  indivisibility.  Perhaps  we  stand 
before  another  Renaissance,  not  a  renaissance  of  Greek 
antiquity,  the  distinctive  character  of  which  is  intellect- 
ual unity,  but  a  renaissance  of  the  human  mind  itself, 


6  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

which  will  bring  unity  to  the  manysidedness  which 
makes  our  civilization  superior  to  the  ancient. 

It  will  be  seen  what  an  important  part  history,  in  its 
modern  conception  as  the  history  of  civilization,  is 
destined  to  play  in  the  future ;  indeed,  a  no  less  am- 
bitious aim  is  placed  before  the  historical  investigator 
than  the  establishment  of  the  laws  of  social  evolution. 

The  present  author's  aim,  however,  is  less  high.  It 
is  not  the  general  laws  of  human  psychology  which  he 
will  try  to  expound ;  his  purpose  is  rather  to  tell  the 
simple  story  of  the  development  of  the  German  people. 
But  what  has  been  said  of  the  history  of  civilization  in 
general  will  make  it  clear  that  a  moderately  accurate 
treatment  of  the  chosen  subject,  even  at  this  early 
stage  of  the  new  science,  must  give  a  better  insight 
into  the  German  national  character  in  its  fundamental 
traits  which  the  Germans  have  in  common  with  their 
relatives  among  other  nations,  —  especially  the  Anglo- 
Saxons,  who  in  their  island  have  preserved  many  a 
treasure  brought  from  the  common  fatherland,  which 
has  been  lost  by  those  who  stayed  behind,  —  than 
could  be  gained  from  an  enumeration  and  description 
of  the  qualities  of  the  contemporary  German.  History 
thus  conceived  will,  in  a  much  truer  sense  than  the  old 
stories  of  wars  and  state  intrigues,  be  indispensable  to 
the  understanding  of  literature  and  art. 

Who,  for  instance,  can  get  a  true  insight  into  the  old- 
est monument  of  Germanic  literature,  continental  and 
Anglo-Saxon,  that  does  not  know  the  true  relation 
between  the  chief,  the  " alderman,"  and  his  sworn 
follower,  the  thegn,  which  very  word  indicates  a  tie 
that  binds  a  child  to  his  father  ?  How  different  a  light 
falls  on  many  poems,  if  we  remember  that  with  our 
ancestors  rape  was  not  something  unusual  or  criminal, 


i  MEANING  AND  SCOPE  7 

but,  at  the  period  of  their  entrance  upon  the  stage  of 
history,  was,  so  to  speak,  a  legal  form  of  marriage? 
How  much  does  the  character  of  Kriemhild  gain  in 
tragic  pathos,  if  we  see  in  her  conflict  not  a  simple 
contest  between  the  love  for  her  husband  and  her  alle- 
giance to  family  ties  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  words, 
but  realize,  instead,  that  it  was  the  conflict  between  the 
dying  social  system  of  the  matriarchate,  the  mother's 
right,  where  the  brother  and  the  mother's  brother  took 
precedence  over  husband  and  father,  and  the  new  rule 
of  the  father,  as  the  true  head  of  the  family ;  when,  in 
short,  we  see  in  Kriemhild  the  representative  of  a 
new  era  rebelling  against  ancient  and  sacred  custom? 
Here  is  a  new  and  interesting  task  placed  before  Ger- 
manistic  students,  to  search  for  those  subtle  and  little 
explored  roots  which  strike  from  our  literature  and 
art  deep  into  long-passed  epochs  of  civilization. 

The  farther  back  we  go,  the  more  are  we  hampered 
by  a  scarcity  of  information,  the  more  must  we  resort 
to  the  imagination.  And  even  the  little  that  has  been 
done  can  be  used  only  with  great  discrimination.  As 
this  kind  of  history  tries  to  reach  the  innermost  soul 
of  the  people,  the  subjective  feelings  of  the  writer  will 
only  too  easily  overcloud  his  scientific  judgment.  Facts 
are  interpreted,  conclusions  are  drawn,  to  suit  his 
patriotic  and  ethical  views.  Some  most  conscientious 
scholars  fall  into  the  opposite  fault :  for  fear  of  being 
considered  partial  to  their  own  nation,  they  become 
unjust  and  even  more  harsh  in  their  judgments  than  its 
avowed  enemies.  How  far  these  dangers  have  been 
avoided  in  the  present  book,  I  must  leave  others  to 
decide.  Of  course,  space  has  not  sufficed  to  point  out 
that  traits  claimed  to  be  German  may  be  found  like- 
wise among  other  nations;  here  we  must  limit  our- 


8  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

selves  to  proving  them  to  be  German.  However 
partial  to  his  subject  the  writer  may  appear,  it  has  not 
been  his  purpose  to  exalt  the  Germans  at  the  expense 
of  sister  nations.  The  responsibility  for  all  compari- 
sons is  left  to  the  reader. 

The  best  known  description  of  ancient  German  con- 
ditions, that  of  Tacitus,  must  be  read  with  great  caution 
in  spite  of  his  wonderful  power  and  historical  skill, 
for  his  purpose  was  not  to  tell  the  truth  for  its  own  sake, 
but  to  give  an  object  lesson  to  his  Roman  compatriots, 
to  show  them  the  error  of  their  ways.  Although  more 
brief,  Csesar  is  a  much  more  reliable  and  unpreju- 
diced witness,  writing  his  report  a  century  and  a  half 
before  Tacitus,  and  making  his  observations  with  the 
cold  eye  of  the  general  who  weighs  his  chances  against 
an  unknown  enemy. 

We  are  very  fortunate  in  having  our  ancestors  enter 
history  at  a  stage  of  civilization  when  they  were  not 
able  to  write  about  themselves,  but  were  under  the 
observation  of  highly  civilized  people.  We  are  thus 
afforded  for  the  first  time  an  opportunity  to  study,  in 
the  clear  light  of  authentic  and  trained  observation, 
the  growth  of  a  nation  from  a  rather  primitive  stage  to 
the  height  of  civilization.  But  what,  from  our  modern 
point  of  view,  we  call  a  primitive  stage  was,  neverthe- 
less, the  result  of  countless  ages  of  progressive  develop- 
ment, of  thousands  of  years  of  physical  and  psychical 
change  and  struggle,  in  view  of  which  the  experience 
of  the  sixty  generations  of  which  we  have  an  account 
must  appear  infinitesimal. 

The  desire  to  know  more  as  to  the  origin  of  our 
ancestors  is  but  natural  to  the  human  mind,  which  in- 
stinctively searches  for  the  first  cause  of  everything. 
The  question  concerning  the  first  beginnings  of  the 


i  MEANING  AND  SCOPE  9 

Germanic  family,  concerning  the  true  character  of  the 
German  before  he  was  at  all  influenced  by  Mediter- 
ranean civilization,  gains  a  special  interest  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  when,  in  consequence  of  the  strengthening  of 
national  feeling  subsequent  to  1871,  the  cry  is  raised 
with  ever  increasing  frequency  that  German  civiliza- 
tion should  discard  all  foreign  influence,  return  to  its 
own  national  sources,  and  develop  a  new,  purely  native 
German  culture.  The  advocates  of  this  movement 
would  like,  if  they  could,  to  start  from  the  very  begin- 
ning, when  the  natural  development  of  the  Germans 
was  not  yet  disturbed,  or  rather  interrupted,  by  contact 
with  Grseco-Roman  civilization  and  with  Christianity. 
The  comparative  study  of  languages  and  the  applica- 
tion of  its  methods  to  the  study  of  mythology,  law,  and 
other  spheres  of  human  interest  taught  us,  not  a  hun- 
dred years  ago,  the  fact  that  by  their  language  the 
Germans  belong  to  that  Indo-European  family  of  na- 
tions, of  which  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  India  and 
the  Persians,  on  the  one  hand,  the  Greek,  the  old 
Italic  and  modern  Romance  nations,  the  Kelts,  the 
Slavs,  the  Lithuanians,  and  the  Germanic  peoples,  on  the 
other,  are  members.  The  question  as  to  the  origin  of 
these  nations  becomes  of  special  interest  to  us,  since 
there  are  strong  evidences  that  the  home  claimed  for 
the  ancestral  seat  of  the  Germanic  nations  is  identical 
with  that  of  the  whole  Indo-European  family. 


CHAPTER  II1 

THE   SCANDINAVIAN   THEORY   OF   INDO-EUROPEAN 
ORIGINS 

FOR  a  long  time  comparative  philology  seemed  to  be 
the  only  science  which  interested  itself  in  the  problem 
of  the  relationship  and  origin  of  the  nations  that  spoke 
the  so-called  Indo-European,  Indo-Germanic,  or  Aryan 
languages.'  The  field  of  the  young  science  was  so  rich 
in  unexploited  treasures  that  it  was  some  time  before 
investigators  began  to  question  the  correctness  of  its 
first  conclusions,  and  to  discover  that  linguistic  evi- 
dence did  not  afford  sufficient  foundation  for  anthro- 
pological or  ethnological  theories,  and  that  language 
alone  could  not  tell  us  the  history  of  the  civilization  of 
a  period  from  which  no  written  tradition,  no  monu- 
ments of  stone  or  metal,  have  been  preserved. 

The  fine  diagrams  that  adorn  our  school  and  college 
text-books,  intended  to  represent  the  pedigree  of  the 
Indo-Europeans,  cannot  be  made  to  agree  with  the 
results  of  science,  no  matter  what  arrangements  of 
" branches"  are  tried.  Joh.  Schmidt  offered  his  in- 
genious "Wellentheorie,"  which  was  greatly  admired 
by  his  colleagues,  but  which  failed  to  carry  with  it 
universal  conviction.  Compromises  have  been  made, 
other  theories  have  been  advanced,  and  what  was  once 

1  This  chapter  was  first  published  in  the  "  Boas  Anniversary 
Volume." 

10 


CHAP,  ii     THEORY  OF  INDO-EUROPEAN  ORIGINS  11 

accepted  almost  as  an  axiom  has  been  so  discredited 
that  to-day  hardly  any  philologist  dares  talk  of  one 
ancestral  nation  as  having  spoken  the  original  language 
from  which  all  the  Indo-European  languages  have  been 
derived,  and  of  which  they  may  have  formed,  at  a 
remote  time,  only  slightly  varying  dialects.  It  must 
be  said,  to  the  credit  of  the  philologists  and  of  their 
science,  that  this  revision  of  first  assumptions  is  not 
due  to  outside  criticism,  but  that,  by  patiently  follow- 
ing their  own  methods,  they  have  found  the  fallacy  of 
the  hypotheses  of  the  founders  of  the  science,  and,  with 
almost  suicidal  intellectual  honesty,  they  have  given  up 
long-cherished  theories.  Surely  a  science  which,  by 
applying  its  own  methods,  has  been  able  to  discover 
the  error  of  its  most  respected  results  cannot  be  de'clared 
bankrupt,  as  has  eagerly  been  affirmed  to  be  the  case 
by  some  outside  critics. 

The  strengthening  of  national  feeling  in  the  second 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century  has  given  to  the  question 
of  the  origin  and  the  relationship  of  civilized  nations  an 
extraordinary  prominence  in  the  interest  of  wider  circles ; 
and  the  problem  has  been  taken  out  of  the  cool  atmos- 
phere of  scientific  investigation  into  the  heat  of  public 
controversy,  of  national  pride  and  international  an- 
tagonism, and,  last  but  not  least,  of  the  rivalry  of 
specialists. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  whole  problem  in  itself  is 
worthless,  that  even  a  satisfactory  solution  is  of  no 
value,  and  that  the  search  for  it  is  only  the  craving  of 
national,  or,  rather,  racial  vanity.  But  the  search  for 
our  origins  has  a  deeper  motive  than  national  vanity : 
it  is  a  very  important  element  of  religious  feeling.  The 
man  who  tries  to  prove  his  descent  from  what  he  believes 
to  be  the  superior  race  takes  the  superior  mind  of  this 


12  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

race  to  be  the  emanation  or  manifestation  of  the  spirit 
of  the  universe.  It  is  a  more  spiritual  modification  of 
the  biblical  conception  of  the  chosen  people ;  from  this 
authority  he  derives  his  mission  as  the  leader  of  the 
nations  to  a  better,  a  higher  life.  If  this  be  vanity,  it 
is  at  least  a  kind  of  vanity  nobody  need  be  ashamed  of. 

Of  course,  this  emotional  aspect  of  the  question  can- 
not find  the  approval  of  objective  science,  but  it  is  at 
the  bottom  of  what  is  called  the  "  anthropological  con- 
ception of  history,"  which  for  the  present  seems  to  be 
in  the  ascendency.  To  push  aside  these  tendencies  by 
characterizing  them  as  "dilettanteism"  will  not  be 
sufficient,  for  its  representatives  do  not  find  their  follow- 
ing with  the  half-educated  only.  They  are  not  to  be 
defeated  by  pointing  out  an  insufficiency  of  facts  from 
the  scientific  point  of  view,  since  they  claim  that  "  emo- 
tional intuition,"  that  " immediate  knowledge,"  to  be 
an  equal  factor  with  reason  and  experience  in  the 
structure  of  science.  Even  a  scientist  of  established 
renown  cannot  entirely  avoid  being  influenced  by  this 
modern  tendency,  not  only  when  he  leaves  the  pale  of 
his  specialty,  but  sometimes  even  in  judging  of  facts  in 
his  own  scientific  field  of  investigation.  The  influence 
of  his  racial  predilection,  unconscious  as  it  is,  does  not 
work  in  one  direction  only ;  for  sometimes  the  scholar, 
whenever  his  conclusions  seem  to  be  favorable  to  his 
own  nation  and  race,  is  filled  to  such  a  degree  with  a 
fear  of  appearing  partial  to  his  own  relations,  that, 
from  over-conscientiousness,  he  refuses  to  give  them 
what  is  right. 

While  we  find  these  tendencies,  perhaps,  at  work 
mostly  among  German  authors,  still  the  prophet  of  the 
new  school  is  a  Frenchman,  Count  Gobineau ;  and  the 
race  question  was  first  brought  to  public  attention 


ii  THEORY  OF  INDO-EUROPEAN  ORIGINS  13 

shortly  after  the  Franco-German  war,  by  another 
Frenchman,  de  Quatrefages,  who,  with  all  his  authority 
as  one  of  the  foremost  anthropologists,  "promulgated 
the  theory  that  the  dominant  people  in  Germany  were 
not  Teutons  at  all,  but  were  directly  descended  from 
the  Finns." 

This  general  interest  may  be  the  reason  why,  in  spite 
of  the  apparent  inability  of  finding  a  satisfactory  solu- 
tion, the  ignorohimiLS  of  many  investigators  has  not 
been  accepted,  and  renewed  efforts  have  been  made  to 
reconcile  the  results  of  the  different  sciences.  I  speak 
of  different  sciences,  for  the  question  of  Indo-European 
origin  has  long  ceased  to  be  a  monopoly  of  comparative 
philology.  The  philologists  themselves,  recognizing 
the  inadequacy  of  their  science  to  cope  with  the  prob- 
lem, began  to  consult  anthropology,  and,  more  recently, 
archaeology.  This  seems  to  increase  the  confusion. 
No  matter  how  competent  an  authority  a  representa- 
tive of  any  one  of  these  sciences  is  in  his  own  specialty, 
he  is  a  layman  as  to  the  other  two  studies ;  and  even 
if  he  has  made  himself  sufficiently  familiar  with  the 
facts  of  the  other  sciences,  he  is  looked  upon  with  sus- 
picion by  those  of  the  "other  shop."  It  is  indeed  sad 
to  see  some  of  the  authorities  ridicule  and  belittle  the 
efforts  of  an  author  belonging  to  another  science,  and 
berate  his  ignorance,  while  the  critic  himself  betrays  at 
least  an  equal  lack  of  familiarity  with  the  commonest 
facts  of  the  other's  specialty.  In  a  late  review,  for 
instance,  I  find  a  great  anthropologist  sitting  in  judg- 
ment on  a  book  dealing  with  the  present  question.  He 
is  probably  quite  correct  in  his  anthropological  objec- 
tions ;  but  the  assertiveness  of  his  style  leaves  a  bad 
taste  in  the  mouth  when  we  find  that  he  himself  is  so 
innocent  of  the  linguistic  aspect  of  the  question  that  he 


14  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

still  believes  Sanskrit  to  be  the  language  nearest  to  the 
primitive  Indo-European  mother-tongue. 

If  it  is  really  impossible  for  any  single  man  to  gain 
sufficient  control  of  the  facts  of  the  three  sciences, 
would  it  not  be  advisable  to  abandon  all  animosity  and 
fierce  rivalry,  and  rather  let  a  number  of  unprejudiced 
anthropologists,  archaeologists,  and  philologists  join  in 
an  investigation  as  to  whether  the  results  of  the  different 
sciences  cannot  be  harmonized  ? 

The  difficulty  of  getting  a  clear  view  of  the  subject 
from  a  short  presentation  of  the  recent  development  of 
the  theory  of  Indo-European  origins,  as  it  appears  in 
German  publications,  has  made  it  seem  to  me  necessary 
to  give  so  much  space  to  general  considerations.  The 
race  theories  have  now  for  some  years  commanded  a 
great  deal  of  interest  outside  of  scholarly  circles  in 
Germany,  especially  under  the  impulse  of  such  books 
as  Houston  Stewart  Chamberlain's  "Die  Grundlagen 
des  XX.  Jahrhunderts."  The  conclusive  wrork  for  the 
last  century  has  been  done  by  0.  Schrader,  who,  in  his 
two  standard  works,  gives  a  comprehensive  view  of  the 
history  of  the  problem,  and  his  reasons  for  placing  the 
origin  of  the  parent  language  in  the  lowlands  of  the 
Volga  River. 

The  more  extensive  studies  of  our  problem  published 
in  Germany  in  this  century  are  inclined  to  agree  that 
southern  Scandinavia,  Jutland,  and  the  country  south 
of  the  western  Baltic  Sea  form  the  locality  where  the 
people  who  first  spoke  an  Indo-European  language 
developed  their  racial  peculiarities,  or,  at  least,  were 
living  before  they  branched  out  to  spread  over  Europe 
and  Asia.  We  may  call  this  the  Scandinavian  theory 
in  a  wider  sense,  leaving  the  question  open  whether  we 
shall  ever  be  able  to  confine  the  supposed  Urheimat  to 


ii  THEORY  OF  INDO-EUROPEAN  ORIGINS  15 

the  boundaries  circumscribed  by  the  purest  represen- 
tatives of  the  " Indo-European  type"  in  southern 
Sweden.  The  first  important  publication  of  the  century 
was  that  of  Mathseus  Much.  It  was  followed  by  an 
extended  article  by  Gustaf  Kossinna.  The  last  contri- 
bution is  by  Hermann  Hirt.  Since  Hirt's  book  repre- 
sents the  latest  phase  of  the  problem,  I  think  it  best  to 
make  his  argument  the  centre  of  this  survey\ 

To  begin  with  the  name  "Indo-Europeans."  I 
prefer  to  use  this  term,  as  it  has  the  widest  scope.  The 
use  of  the  term  " Aryans"  for  the  whole  group  is  unde- 
sirable, in  spite  of  all  tradition  and  the  part  the  name 
plays  in  anti-Semitic  controversies,  since  this  term  is 
restricted  to  the  Indo-Iranian  group.  The  term  "Indo- 
Germanic"  owes  its  origin  to  the  opinion  that  the 
Indian  Aryans  and  the  Germanic  nations  formed  the 
extreme  ends  of  the  line  of  nations,  and  not  to  the 
national  vanity  of  the  Germans,  as  Ripley  insinuates. 
But  it  seems  to  hurt  the  sensibilities  of  some  non-Ger- 
manic nations,  so  it  may  be  just  as  well  to  agree  on 
"  Indo-European."  At  all  events,  philology  has  taught 
us  that  to  call  the  whole  family,  or  its  ancestors,  Aryans, 
is  decidedly  wrong;  and  certain  anthropologists,  who 
deny  the  existence  of  a  racial  unity  altogether,  should 
not  insist  on  using  it,  as  it  will  give  rise  to  misunder- 
standings. 

Of  course,  the  search  for  the  cradle  of  the  Indo-Euro- 
pean family  of  nations  presupposes  the  belief  in  the 
existence  of  an  Indo-European  race  or  type  anthro- 
pologically distinct.  Nobody  will  contend  that  there 
is  an  anthropological  relationship  of  the  nations  speak- 
ing the  Indo-European  languages  to-day;  but  it  is 
equally  certain  that  these  languages  have  a  common 
origin,  and  that  there  must  have  been  a  nation  who 


16  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

spoke  that  original  language  with  some  dialectical 
variations,  and  who  must  have  brought  it  to  those 
parts  of  the  globe  where  its  branches  are  used  in  his- 
torical times.  Indeed,  for  most  branches,  this  immi- 
gration is  within  the  reach  of  historical  evidence,  or, 
at  least,  of  very  sound  prehistoric  reasoning.  These 
immigrants  were  of  a  long-headed,  blond,  and  tall  type, 
—  traits  which  are  found  in  then*  greatest  purity  to-day 
in  southern  Scandinavia,  Jutland,  and  northern  Ger- 
many. What  Ripley  concedes  to  be  the  fact  for 
Europe  —  that  the  traits  which  he  calls  Teutonic 
"have  become  distinctive  of  a  dominant  race  all  over 
Europe"  -holds  good  as  well  for  the  representatives 
of  the  Indo-European  language  family  in  Asia.  More- 
over, anthropological  evidence,  supported  by  legendary 
tradition,  mythology,  and  literature,  —  which  repre- 
sent gods  and  heroes  as  blond  and  tall,  —  permit  the 
conclusion  that  there  has  been  a  conquest  by  a  race 
with  such  characteristics.  In  speaking  of  Indo-Euro- 
peans  in  this  chapter,  we  mean,  therefore,  not  the 
nations  who  speak  one  of  the  related  languages  of  that 
family,  but  the  immigrants  or  conquerors  who  spread 
this  language  over  Europe  and  parts  of  Asia. 

Since  philology  has  discarded  the  view  that  Sanskrit 
represents  the  most  archaic  form  of  language,  —  that 
is,  was  most  closely  related  to  the  original  Indo-Euro- 
pean language,  —  the  defenders  of  the  Asiatic  origin 
of  the  Indo-Europeans  have  lost  their  strongest  point  ; 
and,  of  all  the  arguments  brought  forth  in  favor  of  this 
view,  only  one  is  thought  by  recent  writers  worthy  of 
consideration.  This  is  the  influence,  pointed  out  by 
Joh.  Schmidt,  of  the  Babylonian  duodecimal,  or  rather 
sexagesimal,  system  of  numbers,  on  the  decimal  system 
of  the  Indo-European  languages.  "But,"  says  Hirt, 


n  THEORY  OF  INDO-EUROPEAN  ORIGINS  17 

"the  Babylonian  culture  is  so  old,  and  its  influence  is  so 
extensive,  that  any  current  starting  from  there  may  have 
reached  Europe.  Indeed,  we  must  say,  that  this 
civilization  is  so  momentous,  that  a  residence  of  the 
Indo-Europeans  in  the  mountainous  regions  of  the 
Mesopotamian  frontier  would  lead  us  to  expect  much 
more  decisive  influences  than  those  comparatively 
meagre  ones  in  the  numeral  system." 

It  would  take  too  much  space  to  show  that  the  assump- 
tion of  a  northern  origin  would  make  the  grouping  of 
the  single  branches,  and  the  wanderings  to  be  assumed, 
fit  into  the  whole  of  known  historical  facts  and  lin- 
guistic conditions  to  a  much  higher  degree  than  would 
any  other  theory.  Discussing  Ratzel's  theory  that  "  a 
single  migration  never  has  led  to  a  lasting  expansion 
of  habitation,"  Hirt  finds  that  a  separated  racial  branch 
will  preserve  its  nationality  under  especially  favorable 
conditions,  such  as  are  offered,  for  instance,  by  moun- 
tainous regions.  He  points  out  that  we  find  the 
southern  Indo-Europeans  exclusively  in  mountainous 
regions,  whither  they  were  forced  to  retire  from  the 
fertile  plains  on  account  of  the  lack  of  supplementary 
migrations  from  the  parent  stock.  Here,  after  genera- 
tions, over-population  forced  them  to  descend  again 
into  the  plains.  Besides,  there  were  climatic  reasons 
to  recommend  the  higher  regions  to  the  northern  set- 
tlers, their  cooler  climate  giving  them  a  better  chance  of 
acclimatization,  while  perhaps  the  smaller  number  of 
primitive  inhabitants  facilitated  the  adoption  of  the 
language  of  the  new-comers. 

Accordingly,  Hirt  finds  the  original  home  of  Indo- 
Europeans  in  the  territory  where  they  form  the  greatest 
continuous  mass ;  that  is,  the  region  comprised  to-day 
by  northern  France,  Germany,  and  western  Russia. 


18  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

At  a  certain  time  the  western  wing  of  Indo-Europeans, 
speaking  the  western  languages,  might  have  lived  west 
of  a  line  from  Konigsberg  to  the  Crimea,  since  the 
equation  for  the  name  of  the  beech-tree  (Ger.  Buche, 
Lat.  jagus,  Celt.  Bacenis  silva,  Greek,  ^77709)  places  them 
within  a  region  where  the  beech-tree  is  indigenous,  the 
name  being  transferred  in  Greece  to  the  oak.  East  of 
this  line,  which  would  make  the  Vistula  River  the 
boundary,  we  find  the  East  Indo-European  wing,  to 
which  the  Letto-Lithuanians  (Baits),  the  Slavs,  and 
the  Indo-Iranians  belong.  The  relationship  of  the 
languages  makes  this  original  grouping  highly  probable. 
If  we  assume  that  the  ethnical  expansion  will  spread 
equally  in  all  directions,  the  centre  of  expansion  must 
naturally  be  the  seat  of  the  parent  tribe,  which,  in  our 
case,  will  be  the  region  on  both  banks  of  the  Vistula. 
Hirt,  accordingly,  is  inclined  to  find  it  very  probable 
that  here  the  home  of  the  Indo-Europeans  is  to  be 
found.  But  if  he  takes  the  Vistula  to  form  a  dividing- 
line  sufficiently  strong  to  explain  the  differentiation  of 
the  centum  and  satem  languages,  he  can  only  refer  to  a 
secondary  stage  of  Indo-European  development. 

It  is  true  that  the  wanderings  of  all  Indo-Europeans 
would  find  easy  explanation  from  this  centre,  near 
which  we  find  located  the  Letto-Lithuanians,  who, 
according  to  the  present  stage  of  linguistic  research, 
have  preserved  the  most  archaic  form  of  Indo-European 
language.  If  we  would,  with  Schrader  and  others, 
place  the  original  home  in  the  steppes  of  southern 
Russia,  the  migrations  of  the  Germans  and  Kelts 
would  offer  almost  insurmountable  difficulties  to  an 
agreement  with  historical  and  philological  facts. 

The  results  of  linguistic  science  make  it  certain  that 
the  country  in  which  the  Indo-Europeans  originated 


ii  THEORY  OF  INDO-EUROPEAN  ORIGINS  19 

must  have  been  densely  wooded.  The  animals  and 
plants  of  the  northern  forests  were  familiar  to  them. 
The  Russian  plain  has  been  bare  of  forests,  probably 
from  the  earliest  times,  since  the  squirrel,  which  is  not 
found  in  the  forests  of  the  Crimea,  has  not  been  able 
to  cross  it.  The  sea  was  not  unknown  to  the  Indo- 
Europeans,  and  it  was  a  sea  in  which  the  eel  was  living, 
-  a  fish  which  is  found  in  the  Baltic  and  North  seas,  but 
not  in  the  Black  Sea  and  its  tributaries. 

A  very  important  argument  for  the  lowlands  of  the 
Volga  is  based  on  the  assumption  that  the  parent  Indo- 
European  nation  was  nomadic;  there  would  be  no 
room  for  nomads  in  any  other  part  of  Europe.  But 
Hirt  offers  a  convincing  mass  of  evidence  that  they  were 
not  hunters,  nor  fishermen,  nor  nomads,  but  had  reached 
the  agricultural  stage  of  economical  development  before 
they  separated.  Agriculture  does  not  need  so  much 
room,  yet  more  arable  land  can  easily  be  had  by  clear- 
ing ;  but,  in  general,  the  peasant  will  protect  the  forest, 
which  furnishes  material  for  tools  and  fire.  Another 
fact  that  speaks  against  the  nomadic  life  has  already 
been  pointed  out  by  V.  Hehn,  who  shows  that  the  horse, 
although  known  to  the  Indo-Europeans,  was  not  used 
for  riding  or  driving. 

The  investigations  of  Kossinna  and  Much  introduce 
archaeological  arguments  into  the  problem.  They  both 
come,  although  by  different  ways,  to  about  the  same 
conclusions.  They  confine  the  territory  in  question  to 
the  lands  surrounding  the  western  part  of  the  Baltic 
Sea,  including  Jutland,  so  that  the  original  home  of  the 
Indo-Europeans  and  the  Germanic  nations  would  be 
identical.  Neither  Much  nor  Kossinna  thinks  his 
results  conclusive.  But  what  Kossinna  says,  especially 
of  the  spreading  of  certain  northern  types  of  pottery 


20  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

(the  spheric  amphora,  the  Bernburg  type),  agrees  very 
well  with  the  conclusions  of  the  linguists  as  to  the 
grouping  and  migrations  of  the  branches.  The  period 
in  which  the  most  important  separations  took  part  is, 
in  accordance  with  the  results  of  comparative  phi- 
lology, the  later  neolithic  age  and  the  time  of  transition 
into  the  bronze  age.  He  assumes  an  early  separation 
of  the  eastern  group,  which,  during  the  stone  age,  took 
its  abode  for  a  tune  in  southern  Russia,  where  the 
Slavs  and  the  Asiatic  branches  developed.  The  ar- 
chaeological conditions  warrant  the  assumption  of  two 
currents  of  migration  southwards  along  the  valleys  of 
the  Elbe  and  the  Oder. 

A  remarkable  part  is  played  by  the  curious  stone 
settings  which,  under  the  names  of  "  Walls  of  Troy," 
"Babylons,"  "Cromlechs,"  "Menhir,  "Wallburgen," 
et  al.,  are  spread  over  northern  Europe  and  correspond 
to  similar  constructions,  especially  to  the  labyrinthic, 
concentric  buildings,  in  Mediterranean  and  Asiatic 
countries.  The  best  known  is  Stonehenge ;  but  a  most 
interesting  illustration  is  offered  by  a  stone  setting  near 
the  city  of  Wisby,  on  the  island  of  Gotland  in  the 
Baltic  Sea,  which  looks  exactly  like  the  original  of  the 
representation  of  the  Cretan  labyrinth  on  the  old  coins 
of  Knossos.  These  stone  settings  are  arranged  to 
represent  the  course  of  the  sun.  But,  whether  we  find 
them  on  the  islands  or  hi  countries  north  and  south  of 
the  Mediterranean  Sea  or  on  the  shores  of  the  North 
Atlantic  and  Arctic  oceans,  the  sun's  course  as  indi- 
cated by  the  stones  could  never  have  been  taken  from 
observations  made  in  the  Mediterranean  countries,  but 
they  correspond  to  the  northern  latitudes,  and  do  not 
admit  of  any  other  conclusion  than  that  of  a  northern 
origin  for  the  builders. 


n  THEORY  OF  INDO-EUROPEAN  ORIGINS  21 

We  have  seen  that  the  physical  type,  which  we  may 
well  call  the  Indo-European,  is  found  almost  pure  in 
southern  Scandinavia,  Denmark,  and  northern  Ger- 
many. There  is  no  reason  why  the  results  of  philology 
and  archaeology  should  not  warrant  us  in  connect- 
ing the  people  of  this  type  with  the  Indo-European 
language.  They  have  occupied  this  territory,  as  an- 
thropologists concede,  at  least  as  far  back  as  the  earliest 
period  for  which  the  beginning  of  the  branching-off  may 
be  assumed,  and  the  archaeological  finds  show  that  no 
break  in  their  culture-development  has  occurred,  no 
matter  how  strongly  southern  influences  have  been  at 
work;  while  immigration  of  another  anthropological 
type  is  undoubted,  still  the  new-comers  have  been  con- 
fined to  a  very  narrow  strip  at  the  shores  of  the  sea,  and 
have  not  produced  any  considerable  changes.  There 
may  be  anthropological  reasons  for  ridiculing  the  efforts 
to  combine  the  results  of  anthropology  with  those  of 
philology  and  archaeology,  but  so  far  it  is  hard  for  a 
non-anthropologist  to  see  them.  Ripley,  for  one,  fails 
to  make  true  his  promise  to  show  that  "all  attempts 
to  correlate  linguistic  data  with  those  derived  from  the 
study  of  physical  characteristics  are  not  only  illogical 
and  unscientific,  but  they  are  at  the  same  time  impos- 
sible and  absurd."  He  may  possess  sufficient  data  to 
warrant  this  rather  strongly  worded  statement,  but  they 
ought  to  be  given  in  such  a  way  that  a  person  of  average 
intelligence  and  education,  trained  in  scientific  thinking, 
though  not  particularly  in  anthropology,  might  see  them. 

The  question  how  these  people  reached  these  localities 
is  not  of  importance  for  our  problem.  But  to  suppose 
that  man,  at  the  end  of  the  glacial  period,  may  have 
followed  the  reindeer,  does  not  seem  —  again  in  the 
modest  opinion  of  the  layman  ready  to  learn  better  — 


22  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

so  absurd,  either,  as  he  certainly  would  have  preferred 
to  follow  his  usual  mode  of  life,  rather  than  become 
accustomed  to  a  new  environment.  And  against  the 
contention  that  the  reindeer  did  not  live  in  connection 
with  man  in  the  part  of  Europe  in  question,  there  are 
other  authorities  that  tell  us  of  finds  of  tools  made  of 
reindeer-horn,  and  of  bones  of  men  and  reindeer  found 
in  the  same  tombs. 

The  geographical  conditions  favored  the  undisturbed 
development  of  the  blond,  tall,  long-headed  northerners 
in  an  environment  adapted  to  the  breeding  of  a  sturdy, 
intelligent  race.  The  unpenetrable  forests  and  swampy 
river-valleys  prevented  immigration  from  the  conti- 
nental side.  Though  there  was  easier  access  by  sea, 
no  large  masses  could  arrive  by  that  way  in  primitive 
times.  But  what  kept  off  the  outsider  was  not  suffi- 
cient to  hold  back  the  surplus  when  over-population 
set  in.  Again  and  again  a  part  of  the  population  left 
the  crowded  country,  wandering  along  the  river-valleys 
and  the  lowlands  to  east  and  west.  We  see  this  process 
still  going  on  in  historic  times.  The  Germanic  tribes, 
without  exception,  have  their  tradition  that  points  to 
the  north,  to  Scandinavia,  as  their  home.  We  have  no 
right  to  belittle  the  value  of  this  testimony.  Historical 
criticism  has  not  shaken  it.  The  length  of  time  must 
not  necessarily  have  extinguished  all  memory  of  a  past 
that  is  relatively  not  so  very  distant.  It  is  said  that 
lately  a  caldron  has  been  found  in  Mecklenburg  that 
had  been  buried  for  two  thousand  years  in  a  place 
which  popular  tradition  had  always  designated  as  a 
spot  where  a  treasure  was  hidden.  Less  time  may 
have  elapsed  between  the  first  written  reports  of  the 
Goths,  the  Langobards,  etc.,  and  the  epoch  when  their 
ancestors  left  their  seats  on  the  Baltic  Sea. 


ii  THEORY  OF  INDO-EUROPEAN  ORIGINS  23 

We  have  seen  that  Hirt  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  home  of  the  Indo-Europeans  would  be  found  in  a 
rather  vast  territory,  with  the  mouth  of  the  Vistula  as  a 
centre  of  radiation,  and  that  the  archaic  language  of 
the  Lithuanians  points  to  their  country  as  the  probable 
region  of  origin.  While  he  is  very  positive  in  excluding 
Asia  and  southern  Russia,  he  is  not  very  explicit  in 
stating  his  reasons  against  the  valley  of  the  middle 
Danube.  Still,  even  Hirt  feels  attracted  to  the  Scan- 
dinavian theory.  He  himself  points  out  that  the  fact 
that  Lithuanian  is  the  most  archaic,  the  least  changed, 
of  Indo-European  languages,  affords  no  conclusive 
proof  that  the  Lithuanians  must  live  nearest  to  the  place 
of  origin.  It  may  be  supposed  that  the  Lithuanians 
immigrated  into  sparsely  settled  districts,  and  that 
therefore  their  language  was  not  influenced  by  foreign 
elements. 

"We  do  not  need,  therefore,"  he  says,  "to  look  for 
the  original  home  of  the  Indo-Germans  just  in  Lith- 
uania. If,  however,  we  look  for  it  hi  the  ancient 
Germanic  territory,  the  fact  should  not  be  overlooked, 
that  the  Germanic  languages  underwent  marked  changes 
at  a  rather  early  period ;  and  this  is  the  only  reason 
which  keeps  me  from  identifying  most  decisively  the 
original  home  of  the  Indo-Germans  with  that  of  the 
Germanic  nations." 

Hirt  refers,  of  course,  to  the  change  of  accent  and 
to  the  so-called  Lautverschiebung,  which  gives  to  the 
Germanic  languages  their  distinctive  character.  He 
does  not  find  any  other  explanation  for  such  decided 
changes  in  language  than  the  influence  of  foreign  ethni- 
cal elements,  a  strong  admixture  of  people  of  a  foreign 
language.  If  there  were  another  race  living  in  the 
eastern  Baltic  province,  circumscribed  sufficiently  above, 


24  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

before  the  immigration  of  the  ancestors  of  the  present 
inhabitants,  it  must  have  been  at  a  period  much  earlier 
than  the  epoch  in  which  the  Indo-European  origins 
must  be  placed.  The  immigration  of  the  Alpine  type, 
traces  of  which  are  found  along  the  shores  of  the  North 
Sea,  may,  indeed,  have  had  some  influence.  Though  it 
appears  to  have  been  rather  too  limited  to  explain 
such  strong  effects,  this  invasion  seems  to  have  occurred 
about  the  tune  of  the  change  from  stone  to  bronze 
implements,  and  of  the  introduction  of  cremation  for 
burial,  which  means  a  great  revolution  in  religious 
ideas,  —  indeed,  a  combination  of  events  which  may 
have  convulsed  the  psychic  life  of  the  people. 

This  may  have  had  some  influence  on  language. 
However,  the  investigations  of  Wundt  permit  us  to 
assume  other  influences  on  the  change  of  language  than 
that  of  mixture  with  other  nations  and  races.  Natural 
environment  and  cultural  development  play,  according 
to  his  view,  an  equally  important  part.  As  to  the 
change  of  accent  and  the  permutation  of  consonants 
of  the  Germanic  languages,  he  points  out  that  both 
processes  extended  over  an  exceedingly  long  period, 
and  still  continued  after  the  division  of  the  nations,  — 
hi  the  Old  High  German  period,  for  instance.  He 
compares  the  first,  the  common  Germanic  Lautver- 
schiebung,  with  the  second,  the  High  German,  which 
took  place  in  the  light  of  historic  times.  He  cannot 
find  that  any  mixture  of  race  will  account  for  these 
phenomena.  "The  processes  in  both,"  he  says,  "are 
too  much  alike,  two  identical  in  general  tendencies, 
even  in  comparison  with  the  analogous  phenomena  in 
other  branches  of  the  Indo-Germanic  family  of  lan- 
guages. Furthermore,  especially  does  the  second  per- 
mutation show  only  too  plainly  its  spontaneous  origin 


ii  THEORY  OF  INDO-EUROPEAN  ORIGINS  25 

in  its  historical  expansion.  Therefore,  although  lan- 
guage-mixtures may  have  had  their  influence  on  other 
sides  of  phonetic  development  —  on  vocalism,  modu- 
lation, accent,  rhythm, —  those  changes  of  the  con- 
sonants will  probably  have  proceeded  from  inner 
conditions,  originating  hi  the  language  community 
itself." 

The  acceptance  of  this  theory  will  remove  the  stum- 
bling-block which  prevented  the  great  linguist  from 
accepting  the  Scandinavian  theory  of  Indo-European 
origins. 

I  have  purposely  omitted  the  argument  based  on  the 
construction  of  an  Indo-Germanic  psychical  type.  It 
is  here  that  the  fancies  of  the  "  anthropological  his- 
torians," like  Woltmann,  make  one  extremely  cautious. 
Conceded  that  there  be  such  a  type,  it  may  find  its 
explanation  in  the  northern  origin,  but  it  could  hardly 
be  used  as  an  argument  to  establish  it. 

The  conclusions  reached  at  the  present  stage  of  the 
problem,  then,  appear  to  be  these,  —  that  serious 
difficulties  are  in  the  way  of  the  localization  of  the  Indo- 
European  parent  tribe,  or  nation,  or  group,  either  in 
Asia,  or  in  any  part  of  Europe  ouside  of  the  Baltic 
plain,  Jutland,  and  Scandinavia;  that  philological 
and  archaeological  considerations  let  it  appear  highly 
probable  that  the  people  whose  ancestors  occupied  the 
western  Baltic  shores  and  their  Hinterland  for  a  period 
reaching  farther  back  than  the  formation  of  the  Indo- 
European  languages,  and  who  have  preserved  the 
physical  type  that  history  and  tradition  point  out  as  the 
original  Indo-European,  are  the  descendants  of  the 
stock  from  which  the  carriers  of  the  Indo-European 
languages  branched  off  to  be  physically  absorbed  by 
other  races,  while  their  languages  survived;  and  that 


26  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION    CHAP,  n 

it  is  almost  certain  that  southern  Scandinavia,  Jutland, 
and  the  lands  between  the  lower  Elbe  and  Oder  con- 
tain the  cradle  of  the  Indo-European  family  of  lan- 
guages. 

We  can  accept  for  this  hypothesis  the  concluding 
words  of  Hirt:  "In  accepting  the  northern  origin  of 
the  Indo-Germans,  we  find  the  best  analogies  as  to  their 
expansion.  Then*  migrations  are,  in  their  chief  traits 
and  in  principle,  not  different  from  those  of  the  Celts, 
the  Germanic  nations,  and  the  Slavs. 

"Without  having  the  support  of  historical  testimony, 
we  may  be  allowed  to  distinguish  between  two  forms  of 
expansion,  —  the  gradual  extension  at  the  boundaries 
and  the  expansion  by  conquering  expeditions.  In  the 
fourth  century  B.C.  the  Indo-Germanic  language  had 
undoubtedly  spread  over  the  whole  of  northern  Europe, 
from  central  and  eastern  France  to  central  Russia; 
while  advanced  columns  had  reached,  and  in  part  Indo- 
germanized,  the  three  southern  peninsulas.  At  all 
events,  the  expansion  is  not  uninterrupted.  Separated 
from  the  great  stock,  the  Asiatic  branch  is  located  in 
Iran  and  India." 

This  great  gap  between  the  Asiatic  and  the  European 
members  of  the  Indo-European  family  may  perhaps 
find  an  explanation  in  the  movements  of  the  so-called 
"Alpine"  race,  which,  starting  from  Asia,  has  crossed 
the  paths  of  Indo-European  wanderings. 


CHAPTER  III 

GERMANIC   ORIGINS 

WHETHER  or  not  the  controversy  regarding  the  cradle 
of  the  Indo-European  family  will  ever  leave  the  realm 
of  hypothesis  is,  of  course,  hard  to  tell.  But,  whether 
or  not  we  accept  the  Scandinavian  theory,  as  explained 
in  the  previous  chapter,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
ancestors  of  the  Germanic  peoples  lived  apart  from  all 
the  other  Indo-Europeans  hi  the  regions  described,  and, 
if  not  one  united  nation,  they  were  yet  a  sharply  de- 
fined, compact  entity  with  distinct  boundaries.  The 
fact  that  there  are  some  words  in  the  Germanic  lan- 
guages found  only  hi  the  Finnish  points  to  a  region 
where  the  Finns  were  the  only  neighbors  of  the  Germans. 
This  condition  is  met  with  on  the  Scandinavian  penin- 
sula, where  the  Germans  were  surrounded  on  three 
sides  by  water,  and  on  the  fourth,  their  only  land  boun- 
dary, by  the  Finns,  who  have  occupied  the  neck  con- 
necting the  peninsula  with  the  continent  from  tune 
immemorial.  This  hypothesis,  of  course,  needs  the 
support  of  other  facts,  which,  indeed,  are  not  lacking. 
The  archaBologists,  as  we  have  seen,  argue  from  the 
findings  in  tombs  that  the  people  who  lived  in  southern 
Scandinavia  a  thousand  or  even  three  thousand  years 
before  the  Christian  era  were  ethnologically  of  exactly 
the  same  type  as  the  people  living  there  to-day,  and 
that  what  is  found  of  the  handiwork  of  these  ancient 
people  likewise  shows  the  beginning  of  what  developed 

27 


28  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

later  into  a  typical  Germanic  style.  Furthermore,  the 
weight  of  evidence,  while  not  affording  conclusive  proof, 
makes  it  very  probable  that  the  Scandinavian  penin- 
sula was  for  a  long  time  the  home  of  our  ancestors, 
who  there  developed  their  own  characteristic  civiliza- 
tion and  racial  peculiarities.  The  genealogical  legends 
of  almost  all  German  tribes  mention  the  North,  the 
"Island  of  Scadia,"  more  or  less  definitely  as  their 
original  home. 

Thus  we  may  accept  it  as  a  fact  that  in  prehistoric 
times  the  Germanic  tribes  occupied  the  southern  part 
of  Scandinavia  and  the  adjacent  islands,  the  Danish 
peninsula  and  the  neighboring  shores  of  the  North  and 
the  Baltic  seas.  Here  they  were  found  by  the  first 
representative  of  Mediterranean  civilization  to  men- 
tion them,  one  Pytheas  of  Marseilles,  a  contemporary  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  who  reports  of  the  amber  fisheries 
on  the  west  coast  of  Jutland.  But  long  before  that 
tune  they  must  have  come  in  contact  with  Mediter- 
ranean peoples.  Three  commercial  roads,  from  the 
Black  Sea,  from  upper  Italy,  and  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Rhone,  respectively,  led  to  the  shores  of  the  northern 
seas,  where  was  to  be  found  the  much-coveted  amber. 
The  tombs  of  Mykene  and  Crete,  which  antedate  the 
poems  of  Homer,  contain  ornaments  of  amber,  and 
northern  sepulchres  have  revealed  specimens  of  Egyp- 
tian art  of  equal  age. 

We  learn  from  the  archseological  finds  that  the 
Germans  passed  through  different  stages  of  the  stone 
age,  and  we  distinguish  a  number  of  epochs  in  the 
bronze  age.  The  grains  of  different  cereals  have  been 
found,  and  bear  witness  to  the  practice  of  agriculture,  as 
is  verified  by  the  rude  rock  carvings  of  men  ploughing. 
The  industrial  arts  had  advanced  considerably.  The 


in  GERMANIC  ORIGINS  29 

stone  implements  of  the  neolithic  age  already  show  a 
wonderful  workmanship,  that  neatness  proper  only  to 
the  craftsman  who  loves  his  work  for  its  own  sake. 
Later  the  working  of  metal  was  brought  to  a  high  degree 
of  perfection ;  nowhere  have  such  beautiful  bronzes  been 
found,  and  the  art  of  making  arms  and  metal  ornaments 
stood  in  high  esteem  until  far  into  the  times  of  docu- 
mentary history.  All  their  art  has  a  character  pecul- 
iar to  itself,  which  has  been  the  very  lite  of  German 
art  throughout  history;  the  lines,  angles,  curves,  often 
arranged  in  a  manner  not  found  in  the  products  of 
other  people,  —  the  beginnings  of  an  ornamentation 
which  continued  and  was  perfected  in  historic  times. 

Perhaps  the  most  curious  objects  found  are  musical 
instruments  in  the  shape  of  horns  which  may  be  com- 
pared to  trombones.  They  are  S-shaped,  from  four 
to  six  feet  long,  made  of  bronze,  and  some  of  them  are 
beautifully  decorated  in  the  style  which  we  may  safely 
call  Germanic.  Modern  Danish  scholars  have  named 
them  "hirer,"  from  "  mdhr,"  the  Old  Norse  word  for 
alphorn.  The  so-called  Kiwik  Monument,  near  Malby 
on  the  island  of  Schonen,  a  relief  cut  in  the  rock  esti- 
mated to  date  from  about  the  year  1000  B.C.,  shows  two 
men  playing  these  instruments  while  in  attendance  at 
a  sacrifice.  These  "hirer"  have  always  been  found  in 
parrs,  one  in  perfect  tune  with  the  other.  They  com- 
prise the  diatonic  scale  and  major  triad,  altogether 
twenty-two  notes,  and  indicate  a  relatively  high  stand- 
ard of  musical  skill,  "a  music  of  a  warlike,  solemn, 
sustained,  powerful,  and  noble  character,  not  noisy 
nor  brutally  piercing."  These  instruments  were  of 
such  character  as  with  absolute  necessity  to  evolve 
in  time  polyphonic  music.  I  cannot  help  finding  some 
significance  in  these  early  witnesses  of  Germanic  musical 


30  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

art,  which  seem  to  show  that  the  very  roots  of  modern 
music,  which  sprang  up  in  the  Middle  Ages,  go  back  to 
the  earliest  origins  of  our  race.  The  National  Museum 
at-  Copenhagen  possesses  no  less  than  twenty-three  of 
these  ancient  "hirer,"  of  which  fourteen  are  perfect. 
Up  to  1910,  concerts  were  given  with  great  success  on 
these  instruments,  some  of  which  have  the  venerable 
age  of  3000  years.  A  report  lying  before  me  says  some 
of  the  pieces  played  were  especially  composed  for  the 
"hirer, "  and  that  the  latter  were  distinguished  by  their 
compass  and  softness  of  tone. 

These  interesting  facts,  which  we  owe  to  archaeology, 
may  be  supplemented  by  the  results  of  philological 
research.  Of  literature  we  can  hardly  speak  at  a  time 
when  writing  was  an  unknown  art ;  for  even  if  the  runes 
are,  as  some  bold  writers  claim,  of  Germanic  origin  and 
rather  the  source  than  the  outcome  of  Mediterranean 
alphabets,  there  is  no  evidence  that  in  early  times  they 
were  used  for  other  than  ceremonial  and  oracular  pur- 
poses, or  as  dedicatory  inscriptions  on  some  weapon, 
ornament,  or  monument.  Almost  all  inscriptions  are 
of  a  post-Roman  period.  Still  comparative  science 
teaches  us  that  the  Germans  had  some  kind  of  songs. 
They  show  that  unity  of  poetry,  music,  and  dance,  of 
symbol,  melody,  and  rhythm  which  we  find  among  all 
primitive  peoples.  They  were  a  part  of  their  cult,  and 
accompanied  all  their  religious  acts.  Even  the  songs 
that  were  sung  when  they  marched  into  battle  and 
when  they  returned  as  conquerors  had  this  character, 
for  war,  with  the  Germans,  was  an  act  of  eminently 
religious  significance.  All  these  songs  were  of  an 
epic  character,  and  even  their  erotic  poems  must  not 
be  supposed  to  have  contained  a  lyrical  expression  of 
emotion.  A  German  scholar  tells  us  that  for  the  period 


in  GERMANIC  ORIGINS  31 

about  the  year  3000  B.C.,  besides  this  choric  poetry  of 
religious  hymns,  of  songs  of  war  and  victory,  marriage 
and  mourning,  they  had  some  kind  of  riddles,  referring 
to  the  mysteries  of  their  cult,  as  well  as  spells  and 
proverbs,  all  in  poetical  form.  Their  epic  songs  ex- 
plained to  the  uninitiated  the  meaning  of  the  ritual 
ceremonies  and  sacrifices,  and  consisted  of  verses  and 
interpolated  prose  sentences.  Many  of  the  proverbs 
so  familiar  to  the  German  to-day,  and  not  a  few  riddles, 
bear  marks  of  an  origin  dating  from  long  before  the 
dawn  of  history.  One  of  the  oldest  and  most  frequently 
quoted  is:  "Sat  a  bird  featherless  —  on  a  tree  leafless 
-  came  a  maiden  mouthless  —  caught  it  footless  —  ate 
it  armless."  In  addition  to  the  rhythm  necessitated 
by  the  dancing  step,  poetic  diction  was  bound  by  the 
alliteration,  i.e.,  the  putting  of  words  beginning  with 
the  same  sounds  (e.g.,  kith  and  kin)  in  the  places  accen- 
tuated by  the  rhythm. 

This  alliteration  leads  us  to  a  quality  of  the  Germanic 
languages  which,  more  than  any  archaeological  dis- 
coveries, or  any  number  of  conclusions  of  comparative 
science,  reveals  the  keynote  of  the  Germanic  character. 
While  many  qualities  of  our  forefathers,  pointed  to 
with  pride  and  satisfaction  by  their  descendants,  are 
common  to  a  great  many  peoples  in  a  corresponding 
stage  of  civilization,  there  is  one  peculiarity  common  to 
the  Germanic  languages  which  is  as  significant  as  it  is 
exceptional.  It  is  this  :  While  all  other  Indo-European 
languages  allow  a  wide  liberty  in  placing  the  accent, 
and  make  external  considerations,  such  as  the  quantity 
of  the  syllables  and  euphony,  of  deciding  influence, 
the  Germanic  tribes  show  a  remarkable  and  intentional 
transition  to  an  internal  principle  of  accentuation,  a 
tendency  to  revert  towards  the  beginning  of  the  word. 


32  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

As  a  result,  of  all  related  peoples  the  Germanic  alone 
puts  the  accent  on  the  root  syllable  of  the  word,  that 
is,  on  that  part  that  gives  it  its  meaning.  There  is 
hardly  an  ethnological  fact  extant  which  gives  so  much 
food  for  thought  as  this.  What  led  these  people  to  give 
up  a  habit  which  must  have  been  so  old  that  it  had 
become  instinctive,  and  to  evolve  out  of  their  own  minds 
a  principle  which  indicates  a  power  of  discrimination  far 
hi  advance  of  anything  we  are  used  to  attribute  to  the 
lower  stages  of  civilization  ?  Circumstances  of  which 
we  are  not  now  aware  must  have  compelled  them  to  dis- 
tinguish the  inner  essence  of  things  from  their  external 
form,  and  must  have  taught  them  to  appreciate  the 
former  as  of  higher,  indeed,  as  of  sole  importance.  It 
is  this  accentuation  of  the  real  substance  of  things,  the 
ever  powerful  desire  to  discover  this  real  substance,  and 
the  ever  present  impulse  to  give  expression  to  this  inner 
reality  which  has  become  the  controlling  trait  of  the 
Germanic  soul.  Hence  the  conviction,  gained  by  count- 
less unfruitful  efforts,  that  reason  alone  will  never  get 
at  the  true  foundation  of  things ;  hence  the  thorough- 
ness of  German  science;  hence  a  great  many  of  the 
qualities  that  explain  Germanic  successes  and  Germanic 
failures;  hence,  perhaps,  a  certain  stubbornness  and 
obstinacy,  the  unwillingness  to  give  up  a  conviction  once 
formed ;  hence  the  tendency  to  mysticism ;  hence  that 
continuous  struggle  which  marks  the  history  of  German 
art, — the  struggle  to  give  to  the  contents  powerful  and 
adequate  expression,  and  to  satisfy  at  the  same  time  the 
requirements  of  aesthetic  beauty  and  elegance,  a  struggle 
in  which  the  victory  is  always  on  the  side  of  truth, 
though  it  be  homely,  over  beauty  of  form  whenever  it 
appears  deceitful ;  hence  the  part  played  by  music  in 
German  life  as  the  only  expression  of  those  imponder- 


in  GERMANIC  ORIGINS  33 

able  vibrations  of  the  soul  for  which  language  seems  to 
have  no  words;  hence  the  faith  of  the  German  in  his 
mission  among  the  nations  as  a  bringer  of  truth,  as  the 
recognizer  of  the  real  value  of  things  as  against  the  hol- 
low shell  of  beautiful  form,  as  the  doer  of  right  deeds 
for  their  own  sake  and  not  for  any  reward  beyond  the 
natural  outcome  of  the  deed  itself.  Although  traces  of 
a  similar  evolution  have  been  found  in  a  few  dialects 
of  other  branches,  they  did  not  last.  In  a  few  Slav 
languages  it  is  due  to  Germanic  influence. 

This  is  not  the  only  revelation  of  Germanic  character 
which  the  language  will  so  generously  grant  for  the  mere 
asking,  but  this  one  trait  is  so  overpowering,  as  it 
flashes  upon  us  from  the  first  dawn  of  history,  that  I 
shall  not  run  the  risk  of  detracting  from  its  impressive- 
ness  at  present  by  observations  for  which  many  an 
opportunity  may  be  offered  in  the  pursuit  of  our 
subject. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   GERMANS   IN   THEIR   FIRST  CONTACT    WITH   GR^ECO- 
ROMAN   CIVILIZATION 

328  B.c.-m.  400  A.D. 

I 

Their  Country  and  Mode  of  Life 

WHILE  the  descriptions  in  the  last  chapter  were 
mostly  based  upon  hypothesis,  however  strongly  sup- 
ported by  archaeological  and  other  evidence,  we  now 
enter  upon  the  stage  of  documentary  history.  We 
find  our  Germanic  ancestors,  partly  at  least,  occupying 
the  same  country  as  their  present  descendants,  and  we 
find  them  for  the  first  time  in  direct  contact  with,  and 
soon  under  the  influence  of,  Mediterranean  civilization, 
as  it  had  taken  final  shape  in  the  universal  empire  of 
the  Romans. 

There  are  many  Germans  at  present  who  seem  to 
doubt  whether  this  influence  has  been  altogether  a 
blessing;  they  appear  to  think  that  much  better 
results  might  have  been  reached,  if  the  Germanic  peoples 
had  been  allowed  to  develop  their  own  civilization, 
according  to  their  character,  as  manifested  in  the  first 
expressions  of  their  mental  life.  However  this  may  be, 
one  thing  is  certain,  that,  until,  far  into  mediaeval 
times  Roman  influence  was  very  slight,  either  because 
German  individuality  was  too  strong,  or  because  Ger- 

34 


CHAP,  iv    THEIR  COUNTRY  AND  MODE  OF  LIFE  35 

man  intelligence  was  not  strong  enough  to  assimilate 
a  civilization  so  far  above  them. 

At  the  time  when  the  first  information  concerning 
the  Germans  was  brought  to  the  ancient  world  by 
Pytheas  of  Massilia,  toward  the  end  of  the  fourth 
century  B.C.,  we  find  the  Germanic  tribes  in  Scandi- 
navia and  on  the  Danish  peninsula.  Westward  of  the 
base  of  the  peninsula  they  did  not  extend  very  far; 
how  far  they  reached  toward  the  east  we  are  not  able 
to  say.  We  know  only  that  on  the  south  and  west  they 
were  surrounded  by  Kelts,  and  we  must  imagine  the 
tune  between  the  fourth  century  and  the  beginning  of 
the  Christian  era  as  a  period  of  continuous  expansion 
of  the  Germanic  tribes  at  the  expense  of  the  Kelts. 

At  the  time  of  Caesar,  who  is  the  next  to  give  fairly 
reliable  reports,  we  find  the  Germans  already  advanced 
to  the  banks  of  the  Rhine.  By  that  tune  the  Keltic 
states  had  been  conquered  and  destroyed,  leaving  their 
traces  in  the  names  of  localities  and  rivers,  and  in  relics 
of  then-  civilization,  which  we  must  suppose  to  have 
been  somewhat  above  that  of  the  Germans.  Indeed, 
so  long  were  these  border  wars  waged  between  Kelts 
and  Germans  that  the  name  of  the  most  powerful  tribe 
among  the  Kelts,  "Volcae,"  gave  rise  to  the  word 
" Welsh"  in  its  various  dialectical  forms,  which,  wher- 
ever it  occurs  in  a  Germanic  language,  has  primarily 
the  meaning  of  "  alien." 

In  the  meantime,  the  Germans  had  become  somewhat 
differentiated ;  the  dialects,  which  had  probably  orig- 
inated when  they  lived  closer  together,  had  become 
more  distinct,  and,  at  the  time  of  which  we  speak,  the 
three  divisions  by  which  scholars  distinguish  the  Ger- 
manic nations  to  the  present  day  were  already  in  exist- 
ence. The  Eastern  Germans,  who  appear  to  have 


36  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

been  the  most  gifted,  lived  on  the  banks  of  the  Oder 
and  Vistula ;  the  best  known  of  their  tribes  were  the 
Visigoths,  the  Ostrogoths,  the  Burgundians,  and  the 
Vandals,  who  play  such  an  important  role  in  the  final 
dissolution  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  in  the  formation 
of  the  new  Romance  nations. 

The  Northern  Germans,  who  remained  longest  in  a 
more  primitive  state  of  civilization,  and  whose  languages, 
especially  that  of  Iceland,  best  preserved  their  old 
Germanic  character,  then  occupied  the  southern  part 
of  Scandinavia,  the  adjacent  islands,  and  Jutland. 
Iceland  was  settled  from  Norway  at  a  much  later 
period. 

The  Western  Germanic  tribes,  of  whom  the  present 
Germans,  the  Dutch,  the  Flemings,  and  the  English  are 
the  descendants,  and  to  whom  we  Americans  belong  by 
language,  and,  as  yet,  by  culture,  occupied  the  base  of 
Jutland,  and  the  oblong  between  the  Elbe,  the  North 
Sea,  the  Rhine,  and  the  Mam  River. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  these  different  tribes  were 
not  all  in  the  same  stage  of  development.  There  are 
indications  that  the  unsettled  period  of  the  wanderings 
caused  a  retrogression  from  the  conditions  of  civiliza- 
tion attained  in  the  ancestral  home.  While  we  follow 
then'  development  during  the  first  centuries,  as  it  is 
shown  by  the  successive  accounts  of  ancient  authors,  we 
shall  try  rather  to  give  a  complete  and  rounded  descrip- 
tion of  their  common  civilization  than  to  point  out  all 
tribal  and  chronological  differences.  Naturally  we 
have  most  information  concerning  those  who  came  in 
direct  contact  with  the  Romans,  who  more  or  less  inter- 
mingled with  them.  These,  later  on,  in  appearance  and 
character,  seem  almost  a  different  race  from  their 
brothers  in  the  North,  who  appear  to  have  preserved  the 


iv  THEIR  COUNTRY  AND  MODE  OF  LIFE  37 

racial  peculiarities  to  a  much  greater  extent.  We  may 
say  in  general,  as  Victor  Hehn  has  pointed  out,  that  the 
Catholic  population  of  Germany  at  present  occupies 
those  parts  that  in  heathen  times  had  been  most  exposed 
to  Roman  influence. 

The  character  of  the  country  inhabited  by  these  peo- 
ple was  vastly  different  from  that  of  the  present  day.  It 
was  indeed  so  dismal  that  we  can  understand  how 
Tacitus  concluded  that  the  Germans  must  be  autoch- 
thonous, since  no  people  by  their  own  free  choice  would 
have  selected  such  a  country  for  their  abode.  Impene- 
trable primeval  forests  alternated  with  impassable 
swamps;  a  long  and  hard  winter,  when  the  sun  was 
able  to  penetrate  the  fog  only  a  few  hours  at  best, 
made  the  inhabitants  almost  forget  the  short  summer. 
Even  toward  the  south  the  climate  was  not  much  more 
propitious,  as  the  increased  elevation  of  the  country 
prevented  the  milder  conditions  which  lower  latitudes 
might  have  brought  about.  The  influence  which  this 
climate  must  have  had  on  the  inhabitants  can  easily 
be  imagined.  Even  in  those  ancient  times,  however,  we 
know  the  German  loved  the  soil  which  he  had  con- 
quered in  hard  fight  with  the  powers  of  nature,  to 
raise  his  scant  grains,  or  to  maintain  space  for  his  cattle 
to  roam  in.  Even  to  have  a  place  to  build  his  hut  and 
dry  his  nets  out  of  the  reach  of  the  spring  tides,  which 
tore  wide  stretches  from  the  northern  coasts,  he  was 
obliged  to  heap  up  mounds  in  the  midst  of  marshes. 

To  the  Roman  observer,  the  people  who  inhabited 
this  country  seemed  remarkably  alike  in  appearance ; 
yet  we  must  not  put  too  much  stress  on  this  fact,  and 
should  remember  how,  to  our  own  eyes,  there  seems  to 
be  very  little  individuality  at  first  sight  among  the 
members  of  a  foreign  race,  say  the  Chinese  or  Japanese. 


38  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

The  purity  of  the  race  may  have  been  already  greatly 
impaired  by  intermixture,  especially  with  the  Kelts, 
since  the  description  of  the  physical  appearance  of  the 
latter  tallies  almost  exactly  with  that  of  the  Germans. 
Even  less  literally  must  be  taken  the  Roman  observa- 
tion as  to  the  gigantic  size  of  the  Germans ;  at  the  present 
time  the  southern  races  are  of  smaller  stature  than  the 
northern,  and  fear  in  all  ages  is  apt  to  beget  exaggera- 
tion. Some  bodies  of  exceptionally  large  size,  as  is 
the  case  to-day,  have  been  found  in  tombs ;  but  on  the 
average  there  does  not  appear  to  be  any  considerable 
difference  as  compared  with  the  present  type  of  Scan- 
dinavians or  Germans.  As  to  later  times,  it  can 
be  stated  that  the  sword-hilts  and  the  armor  of  the 
mediaeval  knights  would  to-day  fit  only  very  small 
men. 

All  accounts  agree  that  the  Germans  were  a  fair 
people,  with  reddish-blond  hair  and  powerful,  well- 
knit  figures.  They  belonged  to  the  long-skulled,  the 
dolichocephalic,  race.  They  must  have  been  decidedly 
good-looking;  on  this  all  authors  agree,  and  it  is 
confirmed  by  the  plastic  representations  of  Germanic 
warriors  and  prisoners  which  have  been  preserved  on 
Roman  monuments.  Ausonius,  the  Roman  poet,  has 
left  us  the  description  of  a  fourth-century  German  girl, 
Bissula,  who  would  appear  attractive  to  a  young  man 
of  our  times:  "Bissula,  born  and  brought  up  on  the 
Rhine,  the  wintry  river,  German  her  features,  golden  her 
hair,  her  eyes  of  blue  color ;  Bissula,  inimitable  in  wax 
or  by  the  brush  of  the  painter ;  adorned  by  nature  with 
charms  which  defy  all  artificial  tricks.  Well  may  other 
maidens  use  powder  or  rouge,  her  face  does  not  owe  its 
rosiness  to  the  deftness  of  her  fingers.  Painter,  mix 
the  whiteness  of  the  lilies  with  the  purple  of  the  roses : 


iv  THEIR  COUNTRY  AND  MODE   OF  LIFE  39 

thus  you  will  get  the  proper  colors  for  Bissula's  por- 
trait." The  Germans  themselves  seem  to  have  been 
vain  enough  of  their  personal  appearance.  They  used 
artificial  dyes  to  preserve  the  color  of  their  hair,  and 
carried  on  their  belts,  in  addition  to  a  sword,  a  leather 
case  for  comb  and  bottle  of  hair-oil,  probably  in  the 
form  of  liquid  butter. 

Men  and  women  were  clothed  almost  alike.  They 
wore  a  tight-fitting  under  garment,  and,  especially  in 
winter,  an  outer  garment  of  coarse  wool  or  skins,  often 
adorned  with  fine  furs.  The  monuments  show  that  both 
men  and  women  wore  leather  breeches ;  a  fully  dressed 
body  found  in  the  marshes  of  Schleswig  has  the  hose 
attached  to  the  breeches.  Indeed,  the  same  costume 
is  worn  to-day  in  the  Highlands  of  Bavaria,  by  farm 
laborers  of  both  sexes.  For  the  protection  of  the  feet 
shoes  made  of  one  piece  of  leather  were  fastened  with 
a  string  around  the  ankles.  This  "Bundschuh," 
which  was  to  become  of  special  significance  as  an  emblem 
in  the  Peasants'  Wars  of  later  times,  goes  back  to  the 
primitive  times  of  Scandinavian  ancestry.  The  neck 
and  part  of  the  chest  were  bare.  The  women  also  some- 
times wore  linen  garments.  Both  men  and  women 
liked  to  wear  ornaments,  —  rings,  brooches,  clasps,  and 
the  like. 

There  was  also  in  use  a  cloak  called  "chozzo"  (Engl. 
coat),  or  "kamitzo"  (Germ.  Hemd),  consisting  of  an 
oblong  or  oval  piece  of  cloth  fastened  at  the  shoulder 
with  a  thorn  or  metal  pin.  This  was  often  the  only 
garment  worn  by  the  men  when  they  lounged  about  the 
house,  and  for  its  comfort  has  been  compared  to  the 
"Schlafrock"  (dressing-gown)  of  the  German  scholar. 
With  men,  of  course,  weapons  were  an  essential  part 
of  the  apparel. 


40  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

Even  after  the  use  of  metal  weapons  was  known,  we 
find  remnants  of  a  cruder  period  reaching  far  into  the 
Middle  Ages.  In  the  time  of  the  Romans  we  must 
suppose  that  the  majority  of  the  Germans  were  armed 
with  wooden  spears,  the  points  of  which  were  hardened 
by  charring.  How  long  the  use  of  stone  arms  lasted 
may  be  seen  by  the  fact  that  in  the  battle  of  Hastings 
many  of  the  English  still  used  stone  axes  and  knives. 
The  characteristic  weapon  of  the  Germans  was  the 
framea,  a  short  javelin,  fit  both  for  throwing  and  for 
hand-to-hand  fighting.  It  is  said  that  they  could  be 
thrown  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  paces.  The 
long  lance,  sometimes  eighteen  feet  in  length,  was  not 
frequent.  Some  tribes  used,  for  hurling,  a  hatchet  of 
peculiar  shape,  called  the  francisca,  with  which  the  name 
of  the  Franks  has  been  connected.  In  addition  we  find 
that  a  sling  was  used  which  could  throw  to  a  distance  of 
400  paces,  also  bows  and  arrows  which  carried  250 
paces.  The  arrow  played  an  important  part  as  a 
symbol.  Thrown  across  the  border  of  a  tribe,  or  the 
fence  of  a  farm,  it  indicated  a  challenge  or  declaration 
of  war ;  or,  when  sent  from  house  to  house,  it  summoned 
the  freemen  to  arms  against  an  invader.  Only  later 
do  we  find  the  short  sword,  about  one  to  one  and  one- 
half  feet  in  length,  originally  made  of  stone,  and  called 
sahs,  from  which  the  Saxons  derived  their  name.  The 
long  sword,  swerd,  or  heru,  gave  their  names  to  the 
Swerdiones  and  the  Cherusks.  The  only  defensive 
weapon  was  the  shield,  a  frame  of  wicker  work  covered 
with  leather,  or  of  boards  made  from  the  linden-tree. 
With  some  tribes  these  were  of  immense  size,  sometimes 
as  high  as  six  feet ;  according  to  the  tribe  to  which  the 
warrior  belonged,  they  were  oblong  or  oval  and  painted 
in  different  colors,  perhaps  already  in  those  times  bear- 


iv  THEIR  COUNTRY  AND  MODE  OF  LIFE  41 

ing  emblems  in  the  manner  of  the  coat-of-arms  of  later 
nobility.  The  shield  was  the  most  important  part  of 
the  man's  armament ;  its  loss  in  battle  brought  ever- 
lasting disgrace,  and  many  a  man  chose  suicide  rather 
than  return  to  his  people  without  this  sign  of  manhood. 
The  shield  was  given  to  the  boy  when  he  was  received 
into  citizenship,  and  was  not  to  leave  him  during  his 
lifetime.  On  their  shields  they  swam  across  the  rapid 
rivers  of  their  country,  and  on  them  they  slid  with  the 
rapidity  of  an  avalanche  down  the  icy  sides  of  the  Alps 
into  the  sunny  fields  of  Italy.  They  were  not  given 
to  wearing  armor;  on  the  contrary,  they  went  into 
battle  the  upper  part  of  their  bodies  perfectly  naked, 
their  arms  and  heads  bare.  Sometimes  we  find  them 
wearing  the  skins  of  wild  beasts,  apparently  more  to 
frighten  their  enemies  than  to  protect  themselves. 

The  houses  of  the  Germans  were  of  the  most  simple 
kind.  Poles  were  driven  perpendicularly  into  the 
ground,  and  the  spaces  between  filled  in  with  wicker 
work.  There  was  at  first  only  one  window,  called  the 
windouge,  "wind-eye,  "and  placed  above  the  door  to  give 
the  smoke  a  chance  to  escape.  Some  monuments  show 
houses  of  cylindrical  form.  The  dwellings  were  in  part, 
as  in  prehistoric  times,  dugouts  covered  by  a  roof. 
They  consisted  of  one  room  only,  part  of  which  was 
sometimes  elevated  for  the  use  of  the  family,  as  the 
domestic  animals  usually  shared  the  same  roof.  They 
were  acquainted  with  the  use  of  tables  and  stools,  and  had 
benches  running  along  the  walls ;  but  they  had  no  dishes, 
the  food  being  placed  directly  upon  the  table.  The 
chiefs  probably  had  larger  halls,  but  we  must  not 
imagine  for  the  earlier  times  banquet  halls  of  the  splen- 
dor of  Heorot,  the  hart's  hall,  described  in  "  Beowulf." 
In  these  halls  each  guest  had  his  own  table,  and  at  the 


42  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

banquet  the  wife  of  the  host  went  about  filling  the  drink- 
ing-horns and  cups  with  mead  or  beer. 

Their  houses  were  not  huddled  close  together  as  in  a 
modern  village,  but  even  those  of  one  community  were 
scattered.  In  those  parts  of  the  country  where  Keltic 
tradition  survived,  the  single  farm,  surrounded  by  un- 
cultivated tracts,  was  the  rule.  The  laying  out  of  the 
village  varied  with  different  tribes ;  in  some  the  farm- 
houses were  arranged  in  a  cluster,  hi  others  in  rows,  and 
sometimes  without  any  system  at  all. 

All  the  fields  of  the  community  were  cultivated  in 
common,  the  shares  of  each  member  being  scattered 
so  that  every  one  should  have  the  same  advantages 
and  disadvantages  of  soil  and  sun.  Outside  of  the  house 
cavities,  such  as  are  still  found  in  some  parts  of  Germany, 
dug  hi  the  ground  and  covered  with  leaves  and  dung, 
served  as  store-rooms  and  as  work-rooms  for  the  women 
hi  winter. 

Pasture  grounds  and  woods  called  the  allmende,  or 
commons,  were  the  common  property  of  the  com- 
munity, a  usage  which  has  in  some  instances  come  down 
to  our  own  tunes.  The  great  allmende  of  Schwyz, 
Switzerland,  for  example,  comprises  an  area  of  about 
400  square  miles.  The  crops  included  barley,  millet 
and  spelt,  or  German  wheat,  a  kind  of  coarse  beans,  and 
especially  oats,  a  "grain  not  cultivated  by  the  Romans. 
These  grains  were  ground  into  flour  for  bread  and 
porridge. 

From  prehistoric  times  also  beer  was  extensively 
brewed,  and  hi  some  regions  was  considered  the  drink  of 
the  nobles.  It  must  not  be  compared,  however,  to  the 
beer  and  ale  of  later  times,  since  hops  were  introduced 
into  Germany  only  after  the  great  migrations. 

The  cattle  were  small  and  unsightly,  but  hardy  and 


iv  THEIR  COUNTRY  AND  MODE  OF  LIFE  43 

rich  in  milk.  Sour  milk  formed  an  important  part  of 
the  diet  of  the  people.  Caesar's  statement  that  they 
knew  how  to  make  cheese  is  an  error ;  butter  they  used 
only  in  liquid  form. 

It  seems  that  cattle  were  kept  for  dairy  purposes  only, 
and  that  their  meat  was  not  eaten.  Sheep  were  kept  for 
their  wool.  Hogs  were  common,  and  were  allowed  to 
find  their  fill  in  the  oak  forests.  We  read  of  fowls, 
such  as  chickens,  geese,  and  ducks,  but  we  are  not 
certain  whether  the  last  were  domesticated.  The  use 
of  the  horse  for  riding  and  carting  was  by  no  means 
unknown,  but  it  was  mostly  kept  for  its  meat ;  horse- 
flesh, next  to  pork,  was  the  principal  animal  food,  espe- 
cially at  ritual  and  sacrificial  feasts.  For  this  reason, 
the  Christian  Church  made  inexorable  war  upon  the 
habit  of  eating  horse-flesh,  until  it  succeeded  in  abolish- 
ing the  practice  entirely.  The  wild  native  horse  of 
northern  Europe  continued  a  favorite  object  of  the 
chase  even  as  late  as  the  sixteenth  century. 

Of  much  more  importance  than  to-day  were  bees, 
wild  and  domesticated ;  honey  took  the  place  of  sugar, 
and  was  also  used  in  the  manufacture  of  mead,  the 
stimulating  drink  of  the  poorer  people.  A  beehive, 
found  in  the  forest,  and  properly  marked  by  the  finder, 
became  a  piece  of  personal  property,  a  practice  still 
surviving  in  some  parts  of  New  England. 

The  domestic  work,  which  included  of  course  all 
handicrafts  of  the  time,  was  performed  by  the  women 
and  slaves ;  they  not  only  cooked,  sewed,  and  spun,  but 
also  wove  the  cloth  and  dyed  it  purple  with  the  juice  of 
huckleberries,  or  green  and  yellow  with  broom.  The 
garments  worn  on  solemn  occasions  they  ornamented 
with  embroidery,  which  shows  distinctly  the  movement 
and  interlacings  characteristic  of  Germanic  art.  The 


44  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

beating  of  flax  and  the  pulling  of  wool  was  also  part  of 
their  work ;  in  short,  the  whole  preparation  of  garments 
and  the  material  for  them.  We  read  that  the  sheep 
were  not  shorn,  but  the  wool  pulled  out,  a  custom  which 
was  not  so  cruel  as  it  sounds,  since  this  operation  took 
place  when  the  wool  was  falling  of  its  own  accord. 

To  the  slaves  was  left  all  the  work  in  the  field.  Aside 
from  war  and  the  chase,  the  freeman  had  very  little  to 
do,  save  one  occupation,  requiring  particular  skill, 
strength,  and  inventive  genius,  that  of  the  smith. 
Indeed,  the  manufacture  of  arms  and  the  ornaments 
they  liked  so  well  was  almost  the  only  craft  considered 
worthy  of  a  freeman.  We  have  seen  that  the  finds 
from  prehistoric  times  show  considerable  progress  in 
this  art ;  its  invention  was  attributed  to  dwarfs  and 
giants,  that  is,  to  divine  beings ;  this,  in  fact,  is  the  only 
creative  work  practised  in  the  imaginary  world  of  Ger- 
manic mythology.  Besides  metal  work,  the  construc- 
tion of  houses,  and  of  the  two-  and  four-wheeled  wagons, 
drawn  mostly  by  oxen,  fell  also  to  the  men. 

The  mines  in  operation  at  these  times  were  probably 
inherited  from  the  Kelts,  and  were  worked  by  the  en- 
slaved descendants  of  that  race.  Salt  was  indispens- 
able, and  salt  works  play  an  important  part  in  early 
German  history.  Victor  Hehn  has  shown  that  all 
the  names  of  places  ending  in  hall,  including  Halle, 
indicate  the  existence  of  salt  works  in  Keltic  times. 
Several  wars  have  been  waged  between  neighboring 
tribes  solely  for  the  possession  of  such  salt  works.  The 
salt  was  obtained  by  pouring  the  brine  over  glowing 
charcoal.  Hence  we  read  of  the  impurity  and  black 
appearance  of  the  salt,  which  really  consisted  of  brine- 
soaked  ashes. 

A  great  many  words  relating  to  the  sea,  to  sailing  and 


iv  THEIR  COUNTRY  AND  MODE  OF  LIFE  45 

fishing,  are  common  to  all  Germanic  languages,  and  indi- 
cate great  familiarity  with  maritime  affairs,  such  as 
was  bound  to  follow  from  the  character  of  the  country. 
In  their  southward  wanderings  many  of  the  Germanic 
tribes  removed  farther  and  farther  from  the  ocean,  but 
navigable  rivers  prevented  them  from  forgetting  entirely 
the  craft  of  the  sailor  and  fisherman ;  and  to-day  life 
on  the  ocean  exercises  an  ever  renewed  fascination  upon 
the  inland-born  German.  The  first  form  of  their  boat 
was  the  hollowed-out  tree,  the  Eiribaum,  several  of 
which  have  been  found  in  a  well-preserved  state,  and 
are  on  exhibition  in  various  museums.  Large  ships, 
similar  to  the  well-known  Viking  ship  of  a  later  period, 
of  a  type  adapted  to  the  stormy  seas  of  the  North, 
were  in  use  as  early  as  prehistoric  times. 

There  was  much  leisure  left  to  the  Germanic  freeman ; 
some  of  it  he  may  have  spent  in  training  in  the  use  of 
weapons  the  young  boys,  who  grew  up  "  naked  and 
squalid,  with  the  sons  of  the  slaves  and  among  the 
cattle"  ;  a  man  known  for  his  skill  in  this  kind  of  work 
might  have  been  employed  to  train  the  sons  of  ethelings. 
Hunting,  that  excellent  form  of  training  for  primitive 
warfare,  was,  of  course,  a  favorite  pastime ;  throughout 
the  ages  a  love  of  outdoor  life,  and  especially  of  the 
forest,  has  been  characteristic  of  the  German.  Even 
before  the  migrations  we  hear  of  hunting  with  the  falcon, 
which  was  later  to  form  such  an  essential  feature  in  the 
picture  of  chivalric  life. 

But  for  days,  no  doubt,  the  free  German  would 
lounge  on  the  bear-skins  in  front  of  his  hearth  fire,  doing 
nothing  but  sleep  and  "think,"  thus,  perhaps,  acquir- 
ing the  habit  of  philosophizing  attributed  to  modern 
Germans.  This  lazy  habit  is  one  of  the  queer  contrasts 
in  the  old  Germanic  character;  the  same  man  would 


46  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

in  a  moment  be  aroused  to  the  greatest  energy  and 
persistence  when  war  or  some  other  cause  which  he 
deemed  worthy  of  his  interest  stirred  him  up  from  his 
rest.  We  can,  it  is  true,  observe  the  same  trait  among 
many  savage  tribes ;  but  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
the  long  and  violent  winters  must  have  confined  the 
German  of  those  times  to  his  hut  for  weeks.  Here  we 
find  the  source  of  his  intense  individualism.  He  was 
compelled  to  fall  back  on  himself,  and,  if  there  was  an 
active  mind  within  him,  —  and  his  language  shows 
that  there  was,  —  the  habit  of  introspection,  the  devel- 
opment of  his  inner  and  emotional  life,  as  well  as  an 
intimate  family  life,  must  have  followed  as  natural 
consequences.  This  dreamy  meditativeness  sometimes 
takes  the  character  of  a  less  commendable  brooding, 
and  gives  the  mind  an  unpractical  eccentricity,  as  can, 
curiously  enough,  be  observed  in  the  difference  between 
the  eccentric  German,  —  das  Original,  —  who  wants  to 
be  left  alone  in  his  peculiarities,  and  the  Anglo-Saxon 
crank,  who  wants  the  whole  world  to  join  in  his  eccen- 
tricities. 

The  change  of  seasons,  as  well  as  the  constant  atten- 
tion required  by  his  natural  surroundings,  may  likewise 
have  been  a  source  of  the  deep  love  of  nature  inborn  in 
the  German,  especially  of  his  ineradicable  love  of  the 
forest.  Emotion  seems  the  controlling  element  of  his 
soul.  His  inner  life,  in  connection  with  his  love  of 
nature,  gives  rise  to  that  quality  which  the  Germans 
call  Gemut.  This  self-concentration  and  emotional 
idealism  very  often  lead  to  serious  ethical  conflicts, 
under  which  the  Germanic  soul  suffers  apparently  more 
than  others.  It  is  the  tragic  essence  of  all  German 
poetry ;  and  it  is  not  without  reason  that  in  the  begin- 
ning of  Eschenbach's  "Parzival"  we  read  of  the  zwivel, 


iv  THEIR  COUNTRY  AND  MODE  OF  LIFE  47 

or  doubt.  If  it  be  true  that  the  German  inclines  more 
to  suicide  than  others,  this  inner  conflict  may  furnish 
an  explanation. 

His  very  seclusion  must,  on  the  other  hand,  have 
aroused  in  him  a  curiosity  to  see  the  world  beyond  the 
narrow  limits  surrounding  him,  especially  after  travellers 
from  abroad  had  told  him  of  sunnier  climes,  where 
nature  responded  more  readily  to  the  efforts  of  man. 
Hence  his  joy  in  travelling,  his  Wanderlust,  one  of  the 
strongest  German  impulses,  but  not  strong  enough  to 
overcome  what  has  even  been  called  by  the  French 
la  maladie  allemande,  the  German  ailment,  his  home- 
sickness, of  which  history  offers  many  striking  examples. 
To  mention  only  one,  let  us  remember  that  the  French 
found  themselves  compelled  to  enact  a  law  placing  the 
death  penalty  on  the  blowing  of  the  alphorn  within  the 
hearing  of  one  of  their  Swiss  regiments,  because  there 
were  too  many  desertions  every  time  this » occurred. 
Very  early  did  this  love  for  travelling  drive  the  Germans 
all  over  the  world,  so  that  Marco  Polo,  when  he  came 
to  China,  found  even  there  already  a  German  globe- 
trotter. 

Apart  from  hunting,  the  freeman  found  his  principal 
pleasure  in  the  halls  of  his  chief,  drinking  beer  and 
listening  to  the  recitation  of  the  great  deeds  of  the 
heroes  of  his  tribe,  or  of  adventures  in  far-away  lands. 
These  narrations  were  sung  in  the  early  times  not  by 
professional  singers,  but  by  some  neighbor  who  had 
heroic  feats  of  his  own  to  relate,  or  felt  the  gift  and  the 
inclination  to  sing  of  others.  The  songs  were  inter- 
rupted by  wordy  wars  between  the  guests ;  making 
fun  of  one's  neighbors  is  an  old  Germanic  trait,  which 
has  not  disappeared  with  time.  Often  such  feasts 
ended  in  drunken  quarrels ;  frequently  a  game  of  dice 


48  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

was  played  with  such  passion  that  a  man  would  not 
stop  until  he  had  lost  all  his  property,  including  his 
most  precious  possession,  —  his  liberty.  This  passion 
for  gambling  seems  to  have  been  a  common  vice  of 
the  Indo-European  nations,  while  drinking  was,  on  the 
whole,  rather  more  peculiarly  Germanic. 

The  virtue  of  hospitality  was  practised  to  the  highest 
degree ;  a  visitor,  with  his  tales  of  adventure  in  strange 
lands  and  of  recent  happenings  nearer  home,  brought  a 
welcome  variety  into  the  monotony  of  life.  He  re- 
mained with  his  host  so  long  as  there  was  anything  left 
in  the  house  to  eat  and  drink,  and  then  both  guest  and 
host  sought  the  hospitality  of  a  neighbor's  house. 
They  did  not  leave,  however,  before  the  guest  had 
selected  from  among  his  host's  possessions  whatever  he 
thought  most  desirable  as  a  present.  It  seems  that  this 
hospitality  was  not  confined  to  the  individual,  but  that 
whole  wandering  tribes  were  received  in  the  most 
generous  manner,  and  kept  for  entire  seasons  in  the 
countries  through  which  they  passed. 

Almost  as  welcome  as  the  traveller  was  the  salesman. 
The  Roman  merchant  early  found  his  way  into  the 
forests  and  marshes  of  Germany,  bringing  the  much- 
coveted  weapons  of  bronze  and  iron,  and  the  silver 
ornaments,  which  were  preferred  to  those  of  gold.  The 
more  the  times  advanced,  and  the  more  the  sons  of 
Germany  became  acquainted  with  Roman  civilization 
in  its  own  home,  the  more  were  its  products  in  demand 
among  then-  countrymen  in  the  interior  of  Germany. 

All  commerce  was  by  barter.  Roman  coins  they 
coveted  as  ornaments  or  to  be  laid  away  in  their  treas- 
ure boxes,  together  with  their  swords,  chains,  rings, 
and  other  precious  articles.  Cattle  formed  the  measure 
of  barter  in  most  parts  of  Germany,  and,  like  the  Latin 


iv  THEIR  COUNTRY  AND  MODE   OF  LIFE  49 

pecunia,  the  English  word  fee,  Gothic  faihs,  Old  Saxon 
and  Old  High  German  fihu,  preserve  traces  of  the  cus- 
tom. In  spite  of  the  differences  in  spelling,  these  words 
are  identical  with  the  German  Vieh,  meaning  "  cattle." 
The  articles  of  export  which  the  Germans  had  to 
offer  were  cattle,  smoked  meats,  fish,  skins,  furs,  geese 
feathers  (a  pound  of  which  in  the  Roman  market 
brought  the  equivalent  of  one  dollar),  oil  for  dyeing 
hair  the  German  shade  fashionable  with  the  Roman 
ladies,  the  hair  itself,  and  above  all  amber,,  which 
they  called  glaesum,  the  Germanic  word  glass.  The 
routes  of  the  trader  were  so  many  connecting  links  with 
civilization.  Three  roads  over  which  the  amber  trade 
has  been  carried  on  since  time  immemorial  have  al- 
ready been  mentioned :  the  first  up  the  Vistula  and 
down  the  Dnieper  to  the  Black  Sea ;  the  second  up  the 
Oder,  across  the  Danube,  over  the  Alps  to  the  banks 
of  the  Po  and  the  markets  of  the  Etruscans,  which  may 
account  for  certain  similarities  between  Etruscan  and 
German  art ;  and  the  third  up  the  Elbe  to  the  Rhine, 
up  the  Rhine  to  the  Rhone,  and  down  that  river  to  the 
Mediterranean  Sea.  The  valley  of  the  Mosel,  however, 
was  the  great  highway  by  which  Roman  civilization 
entered  Germany. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   GERMANS  IN   THEIR    FIRST  CONTACT  WITH    GR^2CC~ 
ROMAN   CIVILIZATION 

II 

Civil  Organization.    Individual  and  Society 

IN  the  civil  organization  of  the  ancient  Germans,  it 
is  interesting  to  observe  the  struggle  between  the  cen- 
trifugal and  centripetal  forces  which  are  at  the  bottom 
of  all  social  organization,  as  of  all  systems  of  the  uni- 
verse. At  the  time  of  which  we  speak,  the  German 
had  no  conception  of  the  state,  as  we  understand  the 
word ;  he  had  not  yet  begun  to  feel  that  it  was  some- 
thing objective,  something  outside  of  himself.  With- 
out being  really  conscious  of  the  natural  organism,  of 
wThich  he  was  himself  a  part,  he  gave  up  some  personal 
rights,  or  rather  some  of  his  personal  desires,  only 
just  so  far  as  seemed  absolutely  necessary  for  his  self- 
preservation.  Thus,  while  on  the  one  hand  we  find  a 
strong  feeling  of  personality,  it  seems  that  the  individual 
had  as  yet  no  perfect  sense  of  differentiation  from  the 
rest  of  his  family  or  clan.  There  appears  to  have  been 
no  moral  conscience  outside  of  the  community  itself, 
which  coincided  at  first  with  the  old  group  of  related 
families,  called  in  German  Sippe,  Anglo-Saxon  syb. 
A  number  of  clans,  —  which  wrord  I  use  to  translate 
Sippe,  —  sometimes  larger,  sometimes  smaller,  formed 
the  old  German  state,  as  we  should  call  it ;  the  land, 

50 


CHAP,  v  CIVIL  ORGANIZATION  51 

or  country,  folk,  or  people,  as  they  termed  it.  Imper- 
meable forests,  swamps,  or  high  mountains,  and,  where 
these  were  lacking,  broad  stretches  of  land,  left  waste 
or  laid  waste  on  purpose,  formed  the  boundaries  between 
which  the  peoples  led  their  independent  lives. 

The  only  purpose  of  the  state  seems  to  have  been  pro- 
tection or  safety,  Friede,  Anglo-Saxon  frith  (with  which 
the  words  free  and  friend  are  connected),  now  meaning 
"  peace."  We  find,  indeed,  in  olden  times  certain  larger 
federations  for  the  purposes  of  cult ;  tradition  kept 
alive  a  consciousness  of  closer  relationship  between 
larger  groups,  which  found  expression  in  myths  relating 
to  the  common  descent  of  all  the  peoples  belonging  to 
one  group  from  a  single  hero  or  god.  But  beyond  a 
general  unconscious  feeling  that  Germans  were  distinct 
from  other  peoples,  there  was  no  conception  of  nation- 
ality, and  each  people  led  its  own  life  within  its  boun- 
daries. 

All  the  land  within  the  boundaries  was  common 
property.  It  was  divided  among  the  clans  into  dis- 
tricts, which  in  turn  were  divided  into  common  pasture 
and  forest,  and  into  fields  for  cultivation.  Each  family 
had,  besides  the  ground  on  which  its  isolated  house 
stood,  its  share  of  the  cultivated  fields  in  scattered  lots, 
as  described  above.  The  English  word  lot  reminds  us 
that  the  distribution  was  made  by  drawing  "lots." 
A  clan  comprised  perhaps  fifty  or  one  hundred  fami- 
lies ;  the  term  hundred  sometimes  meant  the  number  of 
families  belonging  to  a  common  mark,  and  sometimes 
the  number  of  warriors  sent  by  a  clan  to  fight  side  by 
side  in  the  common  army.  The  different  lots  of  the 
fields  and  the  homestead  together  formed  the  hide,  or 
hufa.  The  cultivation  of  the  fields  was  a  matter  of 
common  concern. 


52  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

There  were  frequent  alterations  both  within  the  mark 
and  within  the  larger  boundaries ;  and  before  the  German 
migration  had  reached  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube, 
where  the  Roman  Empire  set  a  limit  to  its  further 
expansion,  peoples  often  changed  their  country,  leav- 
ing their  old  settlements  waste  and  empty.  After  that 
limit  was  reached,  we  find  the  tribes  settled  in  fixed 
territories,  and  only  then  do  we  witness  the  slow  begin- 
ning of  personal  ownership  of  land. 

This  organization  of  the  community,  in  which  every 
peasant  was  partner  in  all  the  land  and  every  citizen 
was  a  peasant,  was  common  to  all  Germanic  peoples, 
and  traces  of  it  are  found  not  only  in  all  the  Germanic 
countries  of  Europe,  but  also  in  many  American  settle- 
ments, especially  in  New  England  and  the  Middle 
Atlantic  States.  I  cannot  better  describe  the  signifi- 
cance of  this  organization,  which  must  not  be  under- 
valued, than  by  the  following  passage  from  Karl 
Lamprecht :  — 

"To-day  we  find  the  last  traces  of  the  Mark  Com- 
munity and  of  the  Hundreds  in  the  common  administra- 
tion of  old  frontier  forests  and  remote  fields.  Much 
more  numerous  are  the  mark  communities  of  the  clans, 
which  comprised  several  villages  each  and  were  pre- 
served with  their  common  possessions  of  forest,  water, 
and  pasture,  sometimes  even  of  cultivated  fields. 
Before  the  foundation  of  the  present  political  com- 
munity, these  local  communities  flourished  everywhere 
under  Germanic  laws.  It  is  an  evolution  of  almost 
incredible  power  of  resistance,  in  view  of  all  the  destruc- 
tive tendencies  of  later  times;  an  evolution  in  which 
the  necks  of  the  German  peasants  have  become  stiffened 
and  their  minds  rigid ;  but  their  lives  remained  honest, 
their  faithfulness  golden,  while  they  stuck  to  the  advan- 


v  CIVIL  ORGANIZATION  53 

tages  of  their  Germanic  ways  in  spite  of  humanism  and 
Roman  law,  until  the  emancipation  of  the  peasant  and 
the  duty  of  universal  military  service  introduced  them 
into  modern  life.  Outside  of  the  realms  of  the  most 
distinct,  the  most  universal,  and  the  most  vivid  emo- 
tions of  human  personality,  not  even  the  most  solid 
institution  would  have  made  such  a  duration  of  primi- 
tive beginnings  possible. 

"But  this  is  the  wonderful  greatness  in  these  associa- 
tions, that  they  were  not  founded  on  any  phenomena 
of  primitive  or  of  any  specific  culture,  but  that  they 
were  anchored  in  the  Germanic  man,  in  Germanic 
being  itself. 

"  The  Germanic  community  from  prehistoric  times 
down  to  the  present  has  not  been  a  community  of  land- 
lords, or  capitalists,  or  of  classes  of  a  certain  education, 
-  it  has  been  a  community  of  men,  of  the  nation  as 
such,  of  men  in  so  far  as  their  hearts  were  broad  and 
their  minds  were  great,  as  their  heads  were  clear  and 
their  arms  were  strong  for  attack  and  defence,  in  as  far 
as  their  good  name  had  proved  itself  immune  against 
calumny.  If  nothing  outlasts  the  change  of  time,  this 
type  of  the  Germanic  man  will  last  as  the  eternal  foun- 
dation of  a  both  original  and  richer  organization  of  our 
public  life." 

And  what  the  great  German  historian  says  about  his 
own  countrymen  is  just  as  true  of  the  farmer  of  Holland, 
of  Scandinavia,  and  of  both  Old  and  New  England. 

In  speaking  of  the  mark,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
it  was  not  an  artificial  political  subdivision  of  the  state, 
as  our  counties  are,  but  it  represented  the  common 
property  of  the  clan,  or  the  hundreds,  who  had  occu- 
pied the  territory  necessary  for  the  support  of  their 
families,  when  they  came  first  into  the  region.  With 


54  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

the  smaller  tribes,  there  was  no  further  subdivision, 
although  the  larger  may  have  already  known  the  greater 
unit  of  the  Gau,  Latin  pagus,  English  shire,  which  plays 
a  very  important  part  in  later  times.  The  growth  of 
the  Germanic  state,  as  it  takes  place  in  the  open  light 
of  history,  is  a  direct  refutation  of  the  social  contract 
theory;  it  is  the  natural  expansion  of  the  family. 

The  population  was  divided  into  two  classes :  the 
freemen  and  the  slaves,  or  serfs.  (The  name  slaves  is 
identical  with  that  of  the  Slav  race,  but  came  into  use 
only  at  a  later  period.)  The  slaves  were  either  pris- 
oners of  war  and  their  children,  or  else,  though  not 
often,  acquired  by  purchase.  The  tribesman  who  had 
lost  his  liberty  in  gambling  was  not  kept  among  his 
former  companions,  but  was  sold  to  foreign  traders  as 
soon  as  possible.  The  slave  was  as  much  a  piece  of 
personal  property  as  a  horse  or  an  article  of  furniture. 
Cruel  treatment,  however,  was  not  in  keeping  with 
Germanic  character,  although  it  might  sometimes 
happen  that  the  master,  in  quick  wrath,  would  kill 
the  object  of  his  anger.  In  the  case  of  the  marriage  of 
a  freeman  or  a  freewoman  to  a  slave,  the  children  were 
unfree. 

The  work  assigned  to  the  slaves  was  the  heavier 
labor  in  the  house  and  in  the  fields.  In  the  early 
times,  when  the  property  was  not  large,  there  was  not 
work  enough,  nor  even  room,  for  a  large  number  of 
slaves,  and  they  formed  an  important  article  of  export. 
Caesar  tells  us  that  Germanic  leaders  distinguished 
themselves  in  the  Italic  slave  rebellions  long  before  his 
time. 

We  hear  only  very  little  of  slaves  receiving  their 
freedom,  and  the  freedman  had  a  very  indefinite  posi- 
tion, not  much  above  that  of  the  slave.  Tacitus, 


v  CIVIL  ORGANIZATION  55 

however,  makes  the  interesting  remark  that  with  those 
tribes  which  had  kings  the  freedmen  sometimes  rose  to 
positions  above  freemen  and  noblemen,  a  state  of  affairs 
which  foreshadows  the  times  of  knights  and  courtiers. 

The  freemen  in  assembly  represented  the  state; 
whatever  there  was  of  government  was  executed  by 
them  in  common ;  they  were  truly  a  sovereign  people. 
Montesquieu  and  Blackstone  declare  these  assemblies, 
called  thing,  mahal,  moot,  to  be  the  foundation  of  the 
British  constitution. 

The  place  of  meeting  was  a  sacred  grove  under  the 
shade  of  old  trees,  and  George  Washington,  drawing  his 
sword  under  the  old  elm  on  Cambridge  Common,  may 
well  remind  us  of  the  ancient  Germanic  Herzog,  elected 
by  the  moot  to  lead  his  people  in  war.  The  place  itself 
commanded  peace,  and  the  keeping  of  order  was  in 
the  hands  of  a  priest,  one  of  the  ethelings,  who  opened 
the  meeting  with  the  words:  "Ich  gebiete  Lust  und 
verbiete  Unlust."  (I  command  good  will  and  forbid 
ill  will.)  But  his  office  was  more  that  of  a  sergeant-at- 
arms  than  that  of  chairman.  The  moot  decided  ques- 
tions of  offensive  warfare  and  treaties  of  peace  and 
alliance ;  a  war  of  defence  needed  no  discussion,  —  an 
arrow  passed  from  hand  to  hand  was  enough.  The 
adventurous  enterprises  of  ambitious  ethelings,  who 
often  asked  for  volunteers  to  accompany  them  on  what 
we  should  call  a  filibustering  expedition  or  a  plunder- 
ing raid  of  bandits,  were  apparently  to  a  certain  extent 
also  under  the  control  of  the  moot.  The  moot  elected 
the  king  or  duke  (Herzog),  who  was  to  be  the  general 
in  time  of  war,  but  who  had  to  give  up  his  office  when 
peace  was  restored.  It  was  the  moot  which  received 
the  youth  into  citizenship,  sometimes  when  he  was 
quite  young  in  years ;  the  ability  to  handle  arms, 


56  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

proved  by  the  killing  of  an  enemy,  admitted  him  to 
manhood,  according  to  a  Gothic  maxim,  found  in  Cas- 
siodorus:  "Et  qui  valet  hostem  confodere  ab  omni  se 
iam  debet  vitio  vindicare."  (He  who  is  strong  enough 
to  pierce  his  enemy  ought  to  be  able  to  resist  every  vice.) 

The  legislative  tasks  of  the  moot  cannot  have  been 
very  many  in  the  simple  life  of  earlier  times ;  the  little 
regulation  that  was  necessary  being  provided  for  by 
traditional  law,  handed  down  in  rigid  and  symbolic 
form  from  father  to  son.  Still  new  conditions  some- 
times demanded  new  measures ;  Caesar  mentions  a  law  of 
the  Suevi  forbidding  the  importation  of  wine. 

The  moot  was  at  the  same  time  the  court  of  justice, 
all  the  freemen  forming  the  jury,  another  original  Ger- 
manic root  of  a  modern  democratic  institution.  The 
moot  was  not  only  competent  in  all  cases  referring 
to  public  peace  and  order ;  it  was  also  the  regular 
tribunal  for  certain  great  crimes  which  demanded 
death,  not  as  capital  punishment,  but  as  a  propitiatory 
sacrifice  to  the  gods.  This  public  sacrifice  took  among 
some  tribes  the  most  horrible  forms. 

We  have  seen  the  freemen  in  the  moot  representing 
the  sovereignty  of  the  nation  in  all  its  functions,  exer- 
cising all  legislative,  judicial,  and  executive  power. 
As  far  as  political  rights  are  concerned,  the  freemen 
were  the  only  class  of  citizens ;  kings,  where  they 
existed,  seem  to  have  had  only  the  powers  of  an  occa- 
sional executive  officer;  but  on  this  point  our  knowl- 
edge is  limited.  Not  much  more  is  known  about  the 
nobility,  the  ethelings.  There  was  such  a  class,  who,  by 
the  respect  shown  to  them,  not  by  any  legal  authority, 
exercised  a  great  influence.  They  prepared  the  business 
brought  before  the  moot,  and  out  of  their  number  was 
selected  the  general  in  times  of  war.  Whether  they 


v  CIVIL  ORGANIZATION  57 

were  the  descendants  of  prehistoric  royal  dynasties,  or 
whether  their  families  were  distinguished  by  having 
furnished  leaders  repeatedly  successful  in  war,  and  hence 
wealthy,  we  do  not  know.  It  is,  however,  not  im- 
probable that  they  date  back  to  a  time  of  a  more  dif- 
ferentiated civilization,  destroyed  by  the  social  up- 
heaval incident  to  the  migrations. 

A  peculiar  institution,  traces  of  which  are  found 
also  among  the  Kelts,  is  the  voluntary  allegiance  of 
young  warriors  to  a  distinguished  etheling,  who  in 
return  gave  them  food,  clothes,  and  shelter,  as  well  as 
rewards  for  deeds  of  valor  and  faithfulness  in  the  shape 
of  weapons,  rings,  and  other  valuables.  The  chief  was 
called  the  elder,  alderman,  senior,  his  followers  thegans 
or  thanes,  in  their  entirety  gasindi  or  trustio.  A  great 
retinue  was  an  object  of  rivalry  between  the  ethelings. 
The  relation  between  senior  and  thane  may  best  be 
characterized  in  the  words  of  Tacitus,  who  says:  "In 
peace  the  retinue  brings  honor,  in  war  protection.  It 
is  disgraceful  for  the  chief  to  be  outdone  in  bravery  by 
the  thanes,  disgraceful  for  the  retinue  not  to  equal 
the  bravery  of  the  chief.  But  it  brings  reproach  and 
lifelong  infamy  to  survive  the  chief  after  he  has  fallen 
in  battle."  It  is  easy  to  see  what  an  instrument  of 
power  such  a  retinue  must  have  given  to  an  ambitious 
nobleman ;  but  it  is  remarkable,  we  do  not  hear  of  a 
usurpation  of  government  by  such  help.  This  old 
thaneship,  moreover,  gives  the  first  evidence  of  that 
faithfulness  and  loyalty  which  form  a  national  ideal  of 
the  Germans  to-day.  Die  deutsche  Treue,  of  which  we 
hear  again  and  again  in  German  songs  and  poems,  is 
a  quality  which  in  these  olden  times  is  to  be  under- 
stood as  voluntary  submission  of  personality  by  those 
naturally  proudest  of  all  people  to  a  superior  authority ; 


58  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

they  gave  up  to  this  authority  not  only  all  family  ties, 
but  even  individual  judgment  of  right  and  wrong.  It 
was  a  faithfulness  that  lasted  as  long  as  the  chief 
kept  his  side  of  the  contract  or  remained  faithful  to 
the  ideal.  No  natural  tie  was  ever  stronger  than  this 
allegiance.  The  Roman  emperors  already  recognized 
this  virtue,  and  formed  their  body-guards  of  German 
warriors.  How  strong  a  motive  it  forms  already  in  the 
"  Nibelungenlied  "  !  Awe-inspiring  was  the  effect  in  all 
Germany  when  Rudolf  of  Schwaben,  Gregory's  rival 
emperor  against  Henry  IV,  had  his  hand  cut  off  and 
was  slain  in  battle:  "This  is  the  hand  with  which  I 
swore  fidelity  to  my  lord,  King  Henry.  Your  advice 
placed  me  on  the  royal  throne;  now  see  wiiither  you 
have  led  me."  These  words,  with  which  he  is  said  to 
have  reproached  the  bishops  of  the  papal  party,  are 
inscribed  around  his  picture  in  the  chronicles;  the 
hand  itself  is  preserved  in  the  Merseburg  cathedral. 
We  are  reminded  of  the  old  relation  between  the  liege- 
lord  and  his  thanes  by  the  late  Emperor  William  I 
and  his  paladins,  especially  Bismarck.  That  Bismarck 
himself  cherished  this  conception  is  shown  by  the 
words  he  chose  for  his  epitaph.  Field-Marshal  Benedek, 
the  leader  of  the  Austrian  army  against  Prussia  in  1866, 
suffered,  in  order  to  keep  his  pledge  to  his  emperor,  a 
life  of  bitter,  unmerited  disgrace,  from  which  one 
word  of  his  would  have  freed  him.  The  last  English 
poem  before  the  Norman-French  invasion  is  but  one 
great  glorification  of  this  Germanic  virtue,  of  the 
fidelity  of  the  Alderman  Byrhtnoth  and  his  followers. 

This  feeling  helps  to  explain  the  strength  of  the 
monarchy  in  Germany  and  in  England,  which  is  based 
not  on  servility,  no  matter  how  far  this  vice  may  have 
spread  in  Germany,  but  on  the  "love  of  the  free  man," 


CIVIL  ORGANIZATION 


59 


as  the  Prussian  national  hymn  calls  it.  And  may  we 
not  ask  whether  that  party  loyalty  which  demands 
blind  obedience  to  the  political  boss,  and  which  makes 
faithlessness  to  the  organization  a  crime,  even  when  the 
organization  is  wrong,  may  not  have  its  roots  in  this 
oldest  form  of  fealty,  Keltic  and  Germanic?  Indeed, 
the  association  demands  the  same  faithful  allegiance 
as  the  chosen  lord.  The  voluntarily  assumed  obliga- 
tion is  liable  to  be  stronger  than  the  duty  imposed  by 
the  accident  of  natural  bonds. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    GERMANS   IN   THEIR   FIRST   CONTACT   WITH   GR-ECO- 
ROMAN   CIVILIZATION 

III 

Law,  Poetry,  Art,  Religion 

IN  discussing  the  comitatus,  or  retinue,  we  have 
touched  upon  conditions  which  form,  so  to  speak,  a 
transition  from  public  to  private  affairs.  Although 
we  cannot  speak  consistently  of  private  law  in  the 
modern  sense  of  the  word,  ancient  custom  had  the 
force  of  a  rigid,  though  only  orally  delivered  statute, 
clad  in  symbolic  and  solemn  language.  It  indicates 
throughout  a  high  sense  of  justice  and  respect  for  the 
rights  of  the  individual.  It  shows  the  German  mind 
at  its  best.  With  the  English,  Roman  law  has  never 
been  powerful  enough  to  make  much  headway  against 
the  Germanic  traditions,  which  have  steadily  and  con- 
sistently grown  out  of  the  principles  laid  down  in  these 
ancient  customs ;  neither  have  the  latter,  although  for 
a  time  threatened  with  extirpation  by  the  foreign  law, 
lost  their  influence  entirely  in  Germany,  and  they  are 
asserting  themselves  anew  in  the  laws  of  the  new 
Empire ;  while  even  with  the  Romance  nations,  especially 
in  France,  they  have  held  their  own  to  a  considerable 
degree. 

The  most  important  civil  contract  is  that  of  mar- 
riage, the  German  word  for  which,  Ehe,  in  its  old  form 

60 


CHAP,  vi  LAW,  POETRY,  ART,  RELIGION  61 

ewa,  had  the  original  meaning  of  custom  or  law.  We 
can  draw  the  conclusion  from  its  survival  in  popular 
customs  as  well  as  in  certain  legal  provisions  that  there 
was  a  time  when  rape  was  a  common  form  of  mar- 
riage. Later  it  took  the  form  of  purchase,  the  bride- 
groom paying  to  the  family  of  his  future  wife  a  certain 
amount  to  free  her  from  their  guardianship.  It  is  this 
transferring  of  the  muni  which  forms  the  legal  essence 
of  matrimony.  As  late  as  the  fourteenth  century  we 
find  in  the  "  Limburg  Chronicle"  the  expression  "to 
buy  a  wife"  in  the  sense  of  "to  marry."  The  price 
paid  by  the  bridegroom  might  be  explained  as  a  com- 
pensation for  the  work  his  future  wife  used  to  perform 
in  her  parental  home. 

The  father  was  the  head  of  the  family  and  the  house- 
hold. His  power  was  called  the  munt,  guardianship, 
and  extended  over  all  members  of  the  household  and 
all  property.  This  independence  of  authority  was  in 
constant  conflict  with  that  of  the  greater  group  —  the 
clan.  For  a  long  time  the  munt  carried  power  of  life 
and  death  over  both  wife  and  children  and  over  the 
serfs.  But  for  a  long  time  also  the  friends  of  the  wife 
kept  a  certain  control  over  her,  which  has  been  ex- 
plained as  a  survival  of  the  old  mothers'  right,  the 
existence  of  which,  however,  is  denied  by  many  authori- 
ties. This  may  explain  in  part  the  position  of  the 
German  woman  as  compared  with  that  of  the  Roman 
or  Greek  matron.  At  the  time  of  Csesar  and  Tacitus 
monogamy  was  the  rule^polygamy,  however,  occurring 
in  exceptional  cases.  The  women  were  held  in  great 
reverence,  but,  as  will  always  be  the  case  among 
healthy-minded  people,  they  were  not  therefore  ab- 
solved from  hard  work.  Chastity  was  their  first  virtue, 
and  a  failure  in  this  respect  was  rare ;  adultery  on  the 


62  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

part  of  the  wife  gave  the  husband  the  right  to  whip 
her,  naked,  tied  to  her  paramour,  through  the  village, 
and  afterward  to  kill  her.  Toward  men  the  laws  were 
more  lenient.  They  reverenced  in  the  woman  some 
mysterious  power,  attributing  to  her  the  gifts  of  divi- 
nation and  healing;  on  many  occasions  we  hear  of 
priestesses;  virgins  of  noble  birth  were  preferred  as 
hostages  to  youths,  as  making  the  treaties  more  bind- 
ing. That  in  the  woman  motherhood  was  principally 
honored  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  penalty  for  the 
killing  of  a  woman  who  looked  forward  to  the  birth  of 
a  child  was  higher  than  for  a  freeman,  in  some  cases 
four  times  as  high. 

"A  new  monogamy,"  says  Lamprecht,  "was  intro- 
duced by  them  into  this  (the  Roman)  world  of  shallow 
conventionalism,  a  monogamy  of  strong  masculine  pre- 
rogatives, but  at  the  same  tune  of  reverential  masculine 
submission,  a  monogamy  according  to  the  different 
gifts  of  the  masculine  and  feminine  nature.  It  was 
not  a  case  of  personal  merit,  it  was  the  product  of  a 
particular  stage  of  development  which  just  then  en- 
joyed the  equal  benefit  of  patriarchal  and  matriarchal 
principles.  But  this  monogamy,  entering  into  the 
settled  conditions  of  a  highly  developed  civilization, 
first  violently,  later  unobtrusively,  although  with  far 
reaching  effects,  became,  under  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity, albeit  with  many  changes,  an  established  insti- 
tution and  the  foundation  of  modern  married  life : 
out  of  its  existence  the  forms  of  mediaeval  and  modern 
love  have  been  developed;  on  this  soil  the  ideal  of 
modern  family  life  has  grown  up,  and  its  fruit  is  the 
ever  youthful  energy  of  the  present,  in  spite  of  a 
past  of  fifteen  hundred  years  of  rising  cultural  develop- 
ment." 


vi  LAW,  POETRY,  ART,   RELIGION  63 

As  to  the  Christian  element,  to  which  reference  is 
here  made,  it  is  a  question  whether  it  was  not  due  to 
Germanic  influences  that  the  Church  conceded  a  more 
dignified  position  to  women  than  she  was  inclined  to 
do  at  first.  As  late  as  585  a  Church  Council  of  Gallic 
bishops  at  Macon  discussed  the  question  as  to  whether 
women  were  human  beings  or  belonged  to  the  animal 
world,  and  as  such,  having  no  immortal  souls,  were  ex- 
cluded from  the  benefits  of  salvation.  The  ancient 
view  of  a  wife  as  salable  property,  on  the  other  hand, 
has  persisted  down  to  the  most  recent  times;  in  1839 
a  man  in  Manchester,  England,  making  use  of  his  legal 
right,  brought  his  wife,  with  a  halter  about  her  neck, 
to  the  market  for  sale;  a  similar  case  was  reported 
from  Halifax  about  the  same  time. 

Criminal  law  in  our  sense  of  the  word  was  unknown. 
As  a  general  principle  it  may  be  stated  that  he  who 
broke  the  peace  had  no  more  peace  himself,  that  he 
was  outlawed.  It  was  secrecy  that  was  most  abhorred 
in  all  misdeeds.  A  man  might  rob,  but  he  must  do  so 
openly.  Death  sentences  were  pronounced  by  the 
moot  only  for  crimes  which  were  so  unspeakably  bad 
as  to  ruin  all  divine  institutions  and  jeopardize  the 
existence  of  the  state.  Neidingswerke  these  were 
called,  cowardice  in  battle  worst  of  all,  and  unnatural 
crimes,  faithlessness,  and  secrecy  in  a  deed  of  violence. 
Offences  in  which  a  person  was  hurt  in  body  or  property 
were  no  affair  of  the  state,  but  of  the  clan.  Bodily 
injury,  even  death,  was  still  settled  by  means  of  the 
blood  feud,  which,  although  the  injury  was  an  affair 
of  the  whole  clan,  was  still  not  the  same  as  that  popu- 
larly known  as  the  vendetta.  The  murderer  himself 
was  not  the  object  of  vengeance,  but  the  most  promi- 
nent member  of  the  clan.  He  had  to  be  killed  before 


64  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

the  victim  of  the  first  crime  was  buried,  the  killing  had 
to  be  done  in  the  open,  outside  of  the  peace  of  the 
home,  and  the  dead  body  had  to  be  marked  by  some 
sign.  Often  the  weapon  with  which  the  deed  was 
done  was  laid  across  the  chest  to  show  that  the  murder 
was  one  of  retribution.  But  what  still  more  deprived 
the  blood  feud  of  a  part  of  its  barbaric  wildness  was 
the  possibility  of  bloodless  expiation.  The  injured 
clan  might  accept  a  compensation  for  the  injury,  paid 
by  the  whole  clan  to  which  the  offender  belonged. 
The  amount  of  the  compensation,  called  weregild,  was 
fixed  in  olden  times  in  each  case  by  the  court  (the 
moot) ;  later  a  regular  tariff  was  established  which  is 
preserved  in  the  oldest  written  laws.  This  gives  valu- 
able testimony  concerning  the  scale  of  personal  values 
in  the  social  life  of  the  tune.  The  choice  between  feud 
and  weregild  lay  entirely  with  the  injured  clan.  If 
they  chose  the  latter,  the  matter  came  before  the  moot. 
In  case  the  truth  of  the  accusation  was  denied,  the  court 
did  not  proceed  to  take  evidence  as  to  the  commission 
of  the  deed,  but  as  to  the  trustworthiness  of  the  oppos- 
ing parties.  Such  was  the  weight  of  personality  hi 
those  early  times  that  he  whose  oath  seemed  to  be 
most  reliable  and  who  could  bring  the  best  and  most 
influential  freemen  to  vouch  for  him  was  considered  to 
be  in  the  right.  These  friends  were  called  "oath- 
helpers,"  and  later,  when  the  social  differentiation 
became  more  marked,  their  number  was  fixed  by  law 
according  to  the  social  rank  of  the  testifying  party. 
The  oath  was  not  so  much  the  invocation  of  the  Deity 
as  a  witness  to  the  truth,  as  in  the  Christian  concep- 
tion, as  it  was  the  giving  of  a  bond  or  a  pledge  for 
one's  truthfulness,  which  was  forfeited  in  case  of  per- 
jury. 


vi  LAW,  POETRY,  ART,  RELIGION  65 

The  validity  of  an  oath,  however,  and  the  justice  of 
a  sentence  might  both  be  challenged  (Eidesschelte, 
UrteilsscheUe) ,  and  in  this  case  a  duel  decided  who  was 
in  the  right.  It  is  erroneous  to  compare  this  duel  (the 
Norse  holmgang,  as  in  the  North  the  duel  was  usually 
fought  on  an  island,  holmr]  with  the  mediaeval  ordeal. 
The  invocation  of  a  just  and  omniscient  God  was  a 
Christian  idea,  foreign  to  Germanic  mythology.  To 
understand  the  underlying  thought  we  must  remem- 
ber that  Gothic  maxim  quoted  above,  which  says: 
"He  who  is  strong  enough  to  pierce  his  enemy  ought 
to  be  able  to  resist  every  vice."  The  braver  man  is 
also  the  better  man,  therefore  the  victor  must  be  in 
the  right.  A  similar  view  underlies  the  modern  duel, 
with  the  difference  that  the  bravery  shown  by  the 
mere  acceptance  of  the  duel  proves  the  insulted  man 
to  be  worthy  of  the  respect  of  his  fellows.  This  right 
of  challenge,  by  the  way,  was  good  English  law,  though 
obsolete,  as  late  as  1817,  when  it  was  invoked  by  one 
Thornton,  who  had  been  sentenced  to  death  by  the 
King's  Bench. 

If  a  man  did  not  pay  his  weregild,  he  was  outlawed 
(peaceless).  His  house  was  destroyed,  his  fields  were 
taken  away,  and  he  himself  was  left  to  die.  But  time 
was  usually  given  him  to  escape  to  the  woods,  where 
he  became  a  "  wood-runner,"  and  everybody  had  a  right 
to  kill  him  at  sight.  If  in  self-defence  he  inflicted 
injury  on  anybody,  his  guilt  was  increased;  he  was 
like  a  beast  of  the  forest,  and  like  the  wolf  he  was 
called  ware,  the  wrangler.  At  any  time,  however,  by 
declaring  himself  willing  to  pay  the  weregild,  or  if  the 
clan  paid  it  for  him,  he  might  take  his  old  place  in  the 
community. 

Laws,  as  has  been  said,  were  not  written,  but  were 


66  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

preserved  by  tradition  delivered  from  mouth  to  mouth. 
Their  symbolical  language,  supplemented  by  actual 
symbols,  however,  was  of  a  character  which  did  not 
admit  of  the  slightest  deviation  from  the  original  form. 
Indeed,  although  they  did  not  become  fixed  in  writing 
until  the  fifth  century  and  in  Latin,  their  monumental 
style  makes  their  reconstruction  easy  in  spite  of  the 
foreign  idiom.  Since  any  mistake  in  the  wording  of 
this  unwritten  law,  any  misappliance  of  symbols  or 
the  most  insignificant  aberration  from  old  custom, 
made  the  act  invalid,  its  transmitters  underwent  for 
centuries  a  training  in  habits  of  exactness  amounting 
almost  to  pedantry. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  solemnity  of  this  symbolic 
language  of  the  law,  I  give  here  the  text  of  the  old 
Frisian  law  of  the  Three  Needs,  which  states  the  con- 
ditions under  which  the  inheritance  of  a  fatherless 
child  might  be  alienated,  and  at  the  same  time  shows 
us  a  touching  picture  of  misery.  Nobody  can  tell  how 
often  it  was  handed  from  generation  to  generation  before 
it  was  at  last  written  down  in  the  ninth  century:  — 

"The  first  need  is  when  the  child  is  taken  prisoner 
and  carried  away  in  fetters,  northwards  over  the  sea 
or  southwards  beyond  the  mountains;  the  mother 
may  then  part  with  the  child's  inheritance,  and  thus 
set  her  child  free  and  save  his  life.  The  second  need 
is  when  years  of  dearth  come  and  famine  reigns  in  the 
land,  and  the  child  is  dying  of  hunger ;  then  the  mother 
may  alienate  his  inheritance  and  buy  him  therewith 
corn  and  cattle  that  his  life  may  be  spared ;  for  hunger 
is  the  sharpest  of  swords.  The  third  need  is,  if  the 
child  is  naked  and  houseless  and  the  cloudy  night  and 
ice-cold  weather  peep  through  the  hedges,  and  all  men 
hurry  to  their  hearths  and  homes,  and  the  wild  beasts 


vi  LAW,  POETRY,  ART,   RELIGION  67 

take  refuge  in  the  hollow  trees  and  rocky  caves;  the 
innocent  child  cries  and  laments  its  nakedness  and 
wails  because  it  has  no  shelter  and  because  its  father 
who  would  protect  it  against  the  cold  winter  and 
gnawing  hunger  is  lying  in  the  dark  depths  of  the 
earth,  in  the  oak  coffin  fastened  down  with  four  nails, 
and  hidden  away;  then  the  mother  may  alienate  and 
sell  the  child's  inheritance."  (Mrs.  C.  Connypeare's 
translation.) 

This  wonderful  instrument  of  expression,  which  they 
knew  so  well  how  to  wield,  their  scholars  tried  to  ex- 
change later  for  a  foreign  language  which  "they  never 
learnt,"  as  a  modern  writer  says,  "more  than  to  stam- 
mer." From  this  language  we  may  conclude  that  the 
poetic  songs  of  which  Tacitus  tells  were  of  a  high 
standard ;  however,  as  there  are  no  written  documents, 
little  more  can  be  said  regarding  their  poetry  than 
was  said  regarding  that  of  their  prehistoric  ancestors. 

There  is  a  lack  of  any  independent  form  of  art,  the 
artistic  sense  finding  expression  in  ornamentation  only, 
in  pottery,  the  ends  of  wooden  beams,  stands,  metal 
utensils,  etc.  Their  ornamentation  developed  along 
lines  already  indicated ;  it  shows  movement  and  those 
peculiar  entwinings  with  a  frequent  application  of  in- 
definite animal  forms,  especially  heads.  A  new  tech- 
nical accomplishment  appears  in  metal  work,  filigrane, 
and  the  so-called  niello,  and  Tauschierarbeit,  iron 
inlaid  with  tracery  of  silver  wire.  Some  kind  of  crude 
enamel  had  been  known  already  to  the  prehistoric 
Germans  of  the  North. 

As  to  their  religion  not  much  can  be  said  either,  in 
spite  of  the  fancies  of  patriotic  enthusiasts  from  Klop- 
stock  to  Richard  Wagner  and  Johannes  Scherr,  who 
have  transferred  to  a  time  that  lies  one  thousand  years 


68  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

earlier  the  figures  of  Norse  mythology,  themselves  more 
the  products  of  poetic  invention  than  deities  who  ever 
had  a  real  cult  or  were  the  recipients  of  prayers  or 
sacrifices.  Some  have  even  out  of  their  own  genius 
produced  new  divinities,  like  Klopstock's  Teut,  who, 
without  any  historical  authority  whatever,  has  been 
construed  as  the  mythical  sire  of  all  Germanic  nations. 

There  was  a  belief  in  Fate,  wurdh,  wyrd,  called  by 
the  Saxons  metod,  Old  English  meotod,  the  measuring, 
order-giving;  Fate  was  personified  later,  probably 
under  Roman  influence,  by  three  sisters,  the  Norns, 
who  at  a  still  later  period  received  each  a  name.  In- 
dicative of  the  religious  depth  which  some  Germans 
are  fond  of  attributing  to  their  national  character  is  a 
passage  in  Tacitus,  where  we  read  that  "they  call  by 
the  names  of  Gods  that  secret  something  (secretum 
illud)  which  they  see  only  through  their  reverence. 
They  conclude  from  the  vastness  of  the  sky  that  they 
cannot  force  the  Gods  between  walls  nor  represent 
them  by  the  likeness  of  a  human  face." 

The  oldest  conceptions  are,  indeed,  rooted  deepest 
in  the  human  mind,  and  last  longest,  so  that  at  the 
present  day  we  may  still  find  traces  of  ancient  beliefs 
in  popular  customs.  Such  traces  exist  even  in  the 
streets  of  the  modern,  sober  city  of  New  York.  When 
the  boys,  on  Hallowe'en,  strike  their  elders  with  flour- 
filled  stockings,  they  find  milder  judgment  not  only  on 
the  ground  of  youthful  buoyancy,  but  also  because  their 
act  recalls  the  ancestral  custom  of  strewing  flour  as  a 
sacrifice  to  the  spirits  of  the  dead,  whose  sighs  are  heard 
in  the  moaning  of  the  wind.  And  the  turkey  dinner  on 
Thanksgiving  Day  not  only  commemorates  the  pious 
gratitude  of  the  Puritans,  but  repeats  the  grateful 
offering  of  the  sacred  fowl  by  our  ancestors  two  thou- 


vi  LAW,  POETRY,  ART,   RELIGION  69 

sand  years  ago,  when  they  thanked  Nerthus  or  Freya 
for  the  gifts  of  the  harvest. 

The  spirits  of  the  dead  were  believed  by  the  ancient 
Germans  to  remain  for  a  certain  time,  but  not  forever, 
in  the  trees  and  springs  of  the  forest  near  the  scenes 
of  their  former  life.  Here,  then,  is  another  reason  for 
the  veneration  of  the  forest,  which  has  taken  a  stronger 
hold  of  the  Germans  than  of  most  other  peoples.  The 
secrecy  of  the  shade  beneath  the  trees,  the  awe-inspir- 
ing silence,  which  is  rather  emphasized  than  disturbed 
by  the  soft  rustling  of  the  leaves  in  the  breeze,  appeal 
strongly  to  the  mystical  side  of  their  character.  Only 
the  Slavs  possess  the  feeling  in  a  like  degree,  so  that  we 
need  not  look  merely  for  economic  reasons  to  explain 
the  fact  that  Russia  and  Germany  have  the  highest 
percentage  of  woodlands  in  Europe. 

They  believed,  too,  in  the  spirits  of  dreams  and  night- 
mares (Alps),  while  out  of  the  great  mass  of  lower 
spirits  of  nature  there  had  risen  dwarfs  and  giants, 
and  minor  goddesses,  like  the  Idisi,  versed  in  the  art 
of  magic  healing.  Of  a  belief  in  the  Valkyries  we  find 
no  certain  proof  in  the  tradition  of  the  earlier  centuries 
of  our  era,  although  later  legends  seem  to  know  them. 
We  hear,  however,  of  heroic  women  who  in  men's 
armor  took  part  in  battles,  and  these  may  have  given 
rise  to  the  later  belief  in  the  warrior  goddesses. 

Of  the  gods  the  oldest  to  be  revered  seems  to 
have  been  Tyr,  or  Ziu,  corresponding  to  Zeus,  or  Jupiter, 
the  god  of  the  heavens ;  out  of  his  attributes  Donar, 
or  Thor,  was  personified,  the  powerful  god  of  lightning 
and  thunder,  followed  by  Wotan,  who  seems  to  have 
represented  the  new  culture  influences.  These  three 
follow  one  another  as  supreme  gods  with  the  ascendency 
of  different  tribes ;  they  were  all  eminently  war  gods. 


70  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

Wotan  seems  to  have  remained  unknown  in  southern 
Germany,  as  the  name  of  Mittwoch  (midweek)  instead 
of  Wotan's  day  (Wednesday)  would  indicate  that  they 
had  no  equivalent  for  the  Mercury  of  the  Romans, 
with  whom  Wotan  was  identified,  just  as  Thor  was 
identified  with  Jupiter  or  with  Hercules,  and  Ziu  with 
Mars.  The  week  as  a  time  unit  was  taken  over  from 
the  Romans,  and  their  names  of  the  days  were  ger- 
manized. 

Of  goddesses  we  find  only  one  with  a  definite  char- 
acter, Mother  Earth,  called  now  Nerthus  or  Hertha  ( ?) , 
now  Freya  or  Frigg;  she  is  always  the  wife  of  the 
Supreme  God.  A  great  many  other  names  have  come 
down  without  conveying  any  meaning  to  us.  The 
name  of  Easter,  the  preservation  of  which  in  Christian 
times  rather  contradicts  the  supposition  of  a  pagan 
divinity,  has  led  to  the  opinion  that  there  was  a  goddess 
of  the  spring,  Austro  or  Ostara.  Colored  eggs  like  our 
Easter  eggs  have  been  found  in  the  grave  of  an  Alemanic 
child  of  the  third  century. 

The  cult  of  the  gods  comprised  prayers  and  sacrifices 
of  animals  and  of  human  beings,  prisoners  of  war, 
criminals,  and  purchased  slaves.  The  future  was 
prophesied  from  the  neighing  of  horses,  and  the  blood 
or  the  entrails  of  the  slaughtered  victims.  Divination 
was  also  practised  by  means  of  runes,  which  were 
scratched  (writan!}  on  twigs,  especially  of  the  beech 
tree,  whence  the  German  word  for  letter,  Buchstabe. 
These  were  thrown  upon  a  white  cloth,  three  were 
picked  up,  and  words  beginning  with  the  letters  marked 
thereon  combined  in  alliterative  verses  gave  the 
prophecy.  There  was  no  special  caste  of  priests ; 
with  many  tribes  priestesses  and  prophetesses  stood  in 
high  esteem. 


vi  LAW,  POETRY,  ART,   RELIGION  71 

German  mythology,  on  the  whole,  seems  to  have  been 
less  developed  than  that  of  Homeric  times,  which  are 
often  cited  as  a  similar  stage  of  civilization.  The  fact, 
however,  mentioned  by  Tacitus,  that  they  had  no 
images  of  their  gods,  which  is  confirmed  by  the  de- 
velopment of  their  art,  permits  the  conclusion  that  at 
a  very  early  stage  they  had  outgrown  fetichism  and 
animism.  A  modern  writer  attributes  to  the  long 
survival  of  animistic  religious  conceptions  the  high 
development  of  Greek  sculpture.  It  was  very  long, 
indeed,  before  German  artists  began  to  produce  pre- 
sentable pictures  of  human  beings,  while  their  other 
artistic  productions  showed  considerable  skill. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  MIGRATIONS 
113  B.C.-600  A.D. 


The  Kimbric  Invasion  of  Italy  and  Ariovistus'  Fight 
with  Ccesar 

First  Active   Interference   of  Germans   in  History ;   Germans   and 
Kelts;  Germans  and  Romans 

BEFORE  Christianity  had  replaced  the  religion 
sketched  in  the  last  chapter,  there  occurred  the  great 
migrations  of  the  Germanic  race,  which  are  generally 
dated  from  the  arrival  of  the  Huns  in  Europe  in  375. 
But  the  new  impulse  which  this  event  gave  to  the 
movement  of  the  Eastern  Germanic  nations  is  only 
arbitrarily  chosen  as  an  epoch.  The  migrations  of  the 
Germanic  peoples  were  in  progress  when  the  race  first 
appeared  above  the  horizon  of  history,  and  in  a  cer- 
tain sense  they  have  not  ended  to-day.  However, 
migration  here  does  not  mean  an  expansion  or  an 
emigration  of  some  parts  of  the  nation ;  in  many  cases 
whole  nations  left  their  countries,  and,  with  their 
wives  and  children,  their  aged  and  infirm,  their  cattle 
and  movable  possessions,  including  in  some  cases  their 
huts,  looked  for  another  place  large  and  fertile  enough 
to  support  them.  The  real  cause  in  most  cases  was 
probably  the  increase  of  population,  which  became  too 

72 


CHAP,  vii  THE  MIGRATIONS  73 

large  to  be  fed  within  the  old  boundaries  under  their 
primitive  forms  of  agriculture.  This  reason  is  given  in 
Layamon's  "  Brut "  for  the  exodus  of  the  Angles  and 
Saxons,  as  well  as  hi  Schiller's  "  Wilhehn  Tell,"  for 
that  of  the  Alemans,  —  a  significant  coincidence. 

We  have  already  heard  of  the  aggressive  expansion 
of  the  Germans  at  the  expense  of  the  Kelts,  a  contest 
lasting  until  the  times  of  Caesar.  After  that  we  have 
a  continuous  overflowing  of  Germans  into  Roman  ter- 
ritory, coming  as  a  rule  not  as  conquerors  or  raiders, 
but  as  immigrants.  Peaceably  they  ask  for  land  to 
settle  on,  and  take  up  arms  only  when  then*  repeated 
demands  are  refused.  By  about  the  second  century 
B.C.  the  first  Germanic  tribe  has  already  reached  the 
frontiers  of  the  Mediterranean  world.  These  are  the 
Bastarni,  the  advance  guard  of  the  East-Germanic 
branch;  they  settle  about  that  time  in  the  district 
along  the  lower  Danube  to  the  Black  Sea  as  the 
rulers  of  Slav  and  scattered  Keltic  tribes.  They  are 
followed  by  the  Goths,  side  by  side  with  whom  we 
find  them  fighting  during  the  second  and  third  century 
A.D.  Soon  after  this  their  name  disappears  from 
history. 

The  next  Germanic  people  to  break  from  the  myste- 
rious forests  of  the  North  were  the  Kimbers,  who  started 
from  the  North  Sea  with  kith  and  kin  to  look  for  a  new 
dwelling  place.  Perhaps  they  left  their  abodes  on 
account  of  one  of  those  terrible  floods  of  which  we  hear 
again  and  again  in  historical  times;  one  in  the  four- 
teenth century  carried  away  20,000  people.  They  were 
the  first  of  their  race  to  break  through  the  Hercynian 
forest,  which  to  the  Romans  seemed  impenetrable,  and 
to  open  a  way  to  the  south.  They  reached  the  Adriatic 
Sea,  but  failed  to  conquer  the  Volcse  and  the  Boii,  the 


74  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

most  powerful  of  the  eastern  Kelts,  and  in  spite  of  a 
victory  (their  first)  over  a  Roman  army,  they  turned 
towards  the  west,  ascending  the  valley  of  the  Danube. 
On  their  way  to  Gaul,  they  first  met  the  Helvetians, 
in  whose  country  they  delayed  four  years.  When  they 
continued  their  western  march,  they  were  joined  by 
several  Keltic  tribes,  among  them  the  Teutons.  After 
this  the  Kimbers  and  the  Teutons  always  appear  to- 
gether in  old  historic  accounts,  and,  probably  on  account 
of  the  similar  sound  of  the  word  deutsch,  it  has  come 
about  that  the  Germanic  peoples  are  often  called 
Teutons  to  the  present  day,  an  error  which  has  led  to 
all  kinds  of  etymological  fancies.  The  enlarged  horde 
entered  Gaul,  and,  marking  their  way  by  plunder  and 
ravage,  at  last  came  to  the  Roman  province,  reaching 
Narbonne,  through  which  ran  the  highway  to  Italy. 
Here  they  were  met  by  the  Roman  consul  Silanus,  who 
had  hurried  his  army  by  forced  marches  to  the  defence 
of  the  province.  A  delegation  of  the  invaders  asked 
him  for  land  to  settle  on.  The  response  of  the  Roman 
was  a  sudden  attack,  which  had,  however,  an  unfortu- 
nate ending  for  him.  The  Roman  camp  was  taken  by 
the  enemy.  But  the  Kimbers  did  not  follow  up  their 
victory.  Another  embassy  was  sent,  this  time  directly 
to  the  Roman  senate.  Again  in  vain ;  the  senate  either 
had  no  vacant  territory  large  enough,  or  was  afraid  to 
receive  this  warlike  people  within  the  boundaries  of  the 
Republic.  Several  other  Roman  armies  were  anni- 
hilated; Tacitus  mentions  five.  Probably  convinced 
that  they  would  not  be  able  to  gain  a  permanent  foot- 
ing in  any  southern  territory  against  the  will  of  the 
Romans,  they  asked  again  and  again  for  land,  but 
always  with  the  same  unsatisfactory  result.  Their 
greatest  victory  was  gained  in  the  battle  of  Arausio, 


vii  THE   MIGRATIONS  75 

Orange,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhone,  over  the  double 
army  of  a  Roman  consul  and  proconsul,  where,  accord- 
ing to  the  accounts  of  the  conquered,  80,000  soldiers  and 
50,000  camp  followers  were  slain ;  only  ten  men  reached 
the  capital.  Their  reports  spread  among  its  inhabitants 
that  terror  of  the  Kimbers,  the  terror  Cimbricus}  which 
for  centuries  continued  to  make  them  nervous.  Italy 
lay  open  to  the  barbarians,  but,  either  from  an  innate 
respect  for  supposed  greatness,  which  is  a  trait  not 
unfamiliar  among  the  Germans  of  later  times  (making 
them  forget  their  self-assertion  to  the  great  advantage 
of  their  enemies),  or  from  barbarian  shortsightedness 
and  ignorance  of  their  superior  strength,  they  lost 
another  two  years  and  a  hah0.  Turning  towards  the 
west,  they  crossed  the  Pyrenees ;  but  in  spite  of  all  their 
victories  in  the  open  country,  they  tried  in  vain  to 
capture  the  fortified  cities  of  the  Kelts,  and  neither  in 
Gaul  nor  in  Spain  could  they  do  more  than  devastate  the 
country.  Thus  the  Romans  gamed  tune  to  recover  and 
to  gather  round  their  best  general,  Marius,  one  of  the 
most  efficient  armies  they  ever  put  in  the  field.  When 
at  last  the  barbarians  resolved  to  break  into  Italy,  in 
two  immense  columns,  Marius  was  able  to  beat  them, 
principally  on  account  of  the  extraordinary  carelessness 
and  tactical  and  strategical  ignorance  of  his  enemies. 
His  first  great  victory  was  gained  at  Aix  en  Provence, 
where  the  Teutons  and  other  Keltic  allies  were  anni- 
hilated. The  Kimbers,  who  had  descended  into  the 
Po  valley  across  the  Brenner  Pass,  sent  another  embassy 
before  the  last  battle,  asking  for  land  where  they  them- 
selves and  their  Keltic  allies  might  take  up  a  peaceful 
residence.  Marius  sneered  at  their  request,  telling  them 
their  brethren  were  provided  for.  As  a  proof,  he  had 
the  chiefs  of  the  Teutons  brought  in  chains  before  their 


76  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

allies.  After  the  return  of  the  ambassadors,  Boiorix, 
King  of  the  Kimbers,  rode  to  the  Roman  camp  to 
arrange  a  place  and  date  for  the  battle,  as  if  for  a  duel. 
Marius  selected  the  thirtieth  day  of  July,  101  B.C., 
as  the  day,  and  the  plain  of  Vercella3,  the  so-called 
Raudian  Fields,  as  the  place  of  battle.  This  selection 
suited  both  generals,  the  Roman  because  he  could 
display  his  cavalry,  the  German  because  he  could  unfold 
his  entire  army.  Of  course  the  numbers  given  by  Roman 
writers,  of  200,000  Germans  against  52,000  Romans,  are 
greatly  exaggerated.  The  military  details  of  this,  as 
of  other  battles,  we  may  leave  to  the  description  of  the 
specialist.  It  is  of  interest,  however,  to  notice  that, 
besides  the  tactical  superiority  of  the  Romans,  the  vic- 
tory is  attributed  to  a  small  invention  of  Marius,  who 
had  the  javelins  of  his  soldiers  fashioned  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  make  them  stick  tightly  in  the  huge 
shields  of  the  Germans  and  greatly  encumber  them. 
The  defeat  of  the  Germans  was  final;  the  mass  of 
their  warriors  were  killed,  and  60,000  prisoners  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  victors.  Thus  the  first  German 
invasion  of  Italy  ended  in  the  complete  destruction  of 
the  people  who,  fourteen  years  before,  had  left  their 
homes  on  the  coast  of  the  North  Sea.  During  their 
wanderings  they  had,  of  course,  adopted  many  a  cus- 
tom of  the  more  civilized  Kelts.  Nor  must  we  forget 
that  a  large  contingent  of  Keltic  tribes  had  joined  them ; 
even  the  name  of  the  Kimbric  king  who  commanded 
at  Vercellse,  Boiorix,  sounds  more  Keltic  than  German. 
We  find,  however,  many  a  trait  which  a  later  tune  shows 
to  be  distinctly  Germanic,  and  we  must  not  suppose 
that  there  was  any  considerable  difference  between 
these  semi-nude  barbarians,  who,  with  their  wives  and 
flaxen-haired  children,  and  with  their  small,  shaggy 


viz  THE  MIGRATIONS  77 

cattle,  dragged  along  in  endless  procession,  and  those 
who  remained  behind,  north  of  the  Hercynian  forest. 
The  armored  cavalry,  at  least,  resplendent  in  knightly 
breastplate,  of  which  we  read  in  Roman  accounts  of 
the  last  battle,  had  certainly  not  been  theirs  when  they 
left  their  homes.  The  mass  of  the  warriors,  however, 
much  more  hardened  to  cold  than  heat,  exposed  their 
bodies,  gigantic  to  Roman  eyes,  to  the  snow  and  ice  of 
the  Alpine  winters,  with  no  other  protection  than  their 
immense  wooden  shields.  Using  these  as  sleds,  they 
slid  down  the  icy  precipices ;  with  them  the  men, 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  stemmed  the  rushing  floods  of 
the  mountain  torrents,  until  the  women  and  children 
with  the  baggage  trains  and  cattle  had  safely  crossed 
below.  Already  we  meet  the  bulwark  of  wagons,  die 
Wagenburg,  where  those  who  were  unfit  to  fight 
awaited  the  outcome  of  the  battle,  and  whence  the 
women  with  songs  and  shouting  encouraged  the  men 
in  combat,  and  in  high  disgust  drove  back  with  clubs 
and  axes  those  who  attempted  to  flee.  After  the 
battle  was  lost,  the  women,  according  to  the  Roman 
historian  Florus,  tried  to  protect  their  virtue  by  request- 
ing Marius  to  allow  them  to  enter  the  service  of  the 
Vestal  Virgins.  When  this  was  refused,  they  first 
strangled  their  children  or  threw  them  under  the  hoofs 
of  the  horses  and  the  wheels  of  wagons,  and  then  either 
slew  each  other  or  hanged  themselves  on  trees  or  to 
carriage  poles  with  cords  twisted  together  out  of  their 
own  hair.  Most  of  the  warriors  preferred  death  to 
slavery,  committing  suicide  by  hanging,  or  by  tying 
themselves  to  the  horns  of  bulls  and  using  then*  final 
energies  in  exciting  the  mad  beasts  to  drag  them  to 
death.  For  a  long  time  their  fierce,  warlike  appearance, 
their  truculent  glance,  which  no  Roman  could  bear,  and 


78  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

their  unrestrained  violence  were  the  objects  of  a  some- 
what uncomfortable  admiration  on  the  part  of  the 
Romans,  reviving  continually  in  their  minds  the  recol- 
lection of  the  terror  Cimbricus.  But  still  more  were 
they  astonished  when  these  barbarians,  in  curious  con- 
trast to  their  own  habits,  gave  evidence  on  certain  occa- 
sions of  a  remarkable  lack  of  avarice.  After  the  victory 
at  Orange,  they  destroyed  and  threw  into  the  Rhone 
the  rich  booty  of  the  Roman  camp,  including  even 
armor  and  weapons,  which  would  have  been  exceedingly 
useful  to  them.  Their  prisoners  were  sacrificed  by 
white-robed  priestesses,  their  blood  caught  in  huge 
caldrons,  and  from  its  appearance  the  future  was  fore- 
told. We  know  that  it  was  Germanic  custom,  before 
important  battles,  to  offer  their  enemy  and  his  posses- 
sions to  the  war  god.  Such  sacrifice  is  related  of  the 
battle  in  the  Teutoburg  Forest,  where  Varus  was 
defeated  by  Arminius.  A  treasure  dedicated  to  the 
gods  has  been  found  in  a  bog  in  Schleswig,  battered  to 
pieces,  not  by  the  turmoil  of  battle,  as  its  condition 
shows,  but  intentionally.  The  dates  of  Roman  coins 
found  with  the  treasure  prove  the  existence  of  the 
custom  in  the  second  century  A.D.  In  reality,  battle 
itself  was  a  ritual  act  for  the  German ;  he  offered  him- 
self and  his  enemy  as  a  huge  sacrifice  to  the  war  god 
Ziu.  The  furor  Teutonicus  of  later  times  was  a  counter- 
part to  the  terror  Cimbricus;  again  and  again  we  read 
of  the  fierceness  of  Germanic  fighting.  The  joy  of 
battle  is  undoubtedly  inborn  in  the  Germanic  character, 
and,  although  Germans  are  always  ready  for  a  peaceful 
settlement,  as  we  see  from  their  laws  regarding  the  blood 
feud  and  from  many  instances  in  their  history,  they  are 
never  displeased,  if  their  antagonist  chooses  war  ;  then 
they  fight  for  their  right  with  redoubled  fury.  But 


vii  THE  MIGRATIONS  79 

in  their  joy  of  fighting,  in  their  resolute  bravery  that 
knows  no  fear,  they  are  often  unable  to  see  the  advan- 
tage of  watching  for  an  opportune  moment. 

The  Keltic  Boii,  as  we  have  seen,  successfully  with- 
stood the  attack  of  the  Kimbers ;  but  only  twenty-five 
years  later  they  succumbed  to  other  Germans,  and  we 
find  the  country  to  which  they  left  then-  name,  Bohemia, 
i.e.,  home  of  the  Boii,  in  possession  of  the  greatest 
German  tribe,  the  Suevians,  under  the  leadership  of 
Ariovistus.  The  Boii  found  a  new  abode  south  of  the 
Danube,  whence  they  were  expelled  later  on;  their 
name  is  only  partially  concealed  in  Bavaria,  i.e., 
Boiovaria. 

The  Suevians  were  followed  by  other  tribes  pushing 
south,  so  that  in  the  second  century  after  Christ  we 
find  the  eastern  banks  of  the  Elbe  relinquished  by  the 
Germans.  Less  pretentious  than  they,  the  Slavs 
settled  on  the  deserted  farms,  enjoying  the  fruits  of  the 
labors  of  their  predecessors  apparently  without  even 
the  trouble  of  an  armed  contest.  The  people  along  the 
lower  Elbe  had  found  no  rest  since  the  East-Germanic 
nations  had  emigrated.  But  their  migratory  instinct 
took  a  new  direction,  turning  towards  the  sea.  The 
Germans  appear  along  the  shores  of  Gaul  and  Britain, 
now  as  pirates,  now  as  settlers,  precursors  of  the 
Vikings,  until  an  epoch  in  this  movement  is  reached 
by  the  founding  of  the  German  kingdoms  in  Great 
Britain. 

We  see  that  the  southern  expedition  of  the  Kimbers 
was  only  an  episode  in  these  efforts  of  expansion.  It 
was  at  the  time  of  Caesar  that  the  Germans  first 
succeeded  in  acquiring  permanent  settlements  on  the 
western  banks  of  the  Rhine.  Ca3sar  appears  inclined 
to  think,  and  strong  evidence  supports  this  view,  that 


80  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

the  Belgae,  the  tribes  who  occupied  the  northern  third 
of  Gaul,  were  strongly  intermixed  with  Germans, 
those  settled  hi  the  angle  formed  by  the  Rhine  and 
the  ocean  being  called  by  that  name.  Shortly  be- 
fore the  great  Roman  reached  Gaul,  the  last  tribe 
of  the  Kelts,  the  Menapians,  were  driven  across 
the  lower  Rhine,  and  the  Germans  occupied  their 
territory.  It  seems  the  Menapians  did  not  wait  for  a 
battle,  but  retired  voluntarily  across  the  river  as  their 
line  of  defence.  The  Germans  simply  made  themselves 
at  home  upon  their  deserted  farms.  We  are  reminded 
of  this  half-peaceful  conquest  of  Keltic  lands  by  the 
isolated  granges,  not  organized  into  villages,  which  \ve 
find  in  some  parts  of  Germany,  especially  in  West- 
phalia, the  old  country  of  the  Menapians. 

Caesar  himself  was  encountered  in  Gaul  by  Ariovis- 
tus,  the  first  distinct  German  personality  we  meet  in 
history.  This  great  king  of  the  Suevians  had  left 
Bohemia,  proceeded  down  the  valley  of  the  river  Main, 
and  had  crossed  the  Rhine  in  72  B.C.  He  had  entered 
Gaul  at  the  invitation  of  the  Sequani,  a  Keltic  nation, 
whose  memory  is  preserved  in  the  name  of  the  river 
Seine.  But  after  helping  the  Sequani  to  defeat  their 
enemies,  he  did  not  think  of  returning  to  Germany,  but 
took  for  his  people  first  one  third,  and  later  demanded 
another  third,  of  the  country  of  his  allies.  So  powerful 
was  his  position  that  the  Roman  Senate  took  the  first 
step  in  securing  his  good-will  by  sending  him  presents 
and  offering  him  the  friendship  of  the  Roman  people. 
But,  when  the  Gauls  asked  the  newly  appointed  Roman 
proconsul,  Caesar,  for  assistance  against  him,  this 
ambitious  general  and  statesman  gladly  seized  an 
opportunity  which  promised  to  further  his  plans.  Al- 
though Ariovistus  was  perhaps  Caesar's  equal  as  far  as 


vii  THE  MIGRATIONS  81 

natural  ingeniousness  is  concerned,  and  far  superior 
to  the  Kimbers  in  his  cool  judgment  and  calculation, 
Roman  strategy  succeeded  in  annihilating  his  army. 
Nevertheless  matters  had  been  turning  rather  against 
Csesar,  and  the  outcome  might  have  been  different,  had 
not  a  young  general  of  the  Roman  reserves  entered  into 
the  battle  without  orders,  and  thereby  saved  the  day. 
Ariovistus  escaped  with  a  few  of  his  friends  across  the 
Rhine;  his  two  wives  and  one  daughter  were  killed, 
and  another  daughter  was  made  prisoner  by  the 
Romans. 

Twice  after  this  Csesar  was  compelled  to  drive  German 
tribes  back  to  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine;  twice  he 
himself  crossed  the  Rhine,  not  for  purposes  of  conquest, 
but  in  order  to  inspire  his  enemies  with  an  idea  of  his 
strength,  and,  though  without  lasting  success,  to  deter 
them  from  further  invasions.  The  ethelings  of  the 
Usipii  and  Tencteri,  who  during  a  truce  came  to  his 
camp,  were  made  prisoners  by  treachery,  and  the 
Roman  legions  easily  defeated  then*  leaderless  people. 
He  may  have  thus  given  his  enemies  then:  first  lesson 
in  Roman  faithlessness.  Those  tribes  of  the  Suevi  who 
had  already  finally  settled  in  Alsace  he  left  in  their 
seats.  The  Ubii,  who  were  continually  attacked  by 
Suevian  tribes,  he  transferred  to  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rhine,  where  they  lived  as  the  faithful  allies  of  the 
Romans  and  as  a  guard  against  their  own  countrymen 
in  the  region  about  Koln. 

Soon  we  find  Germans  as  auxiliaries  in  the  Roman 
army.  Ten  years  after  the  defeat  of  Ariovistus, 
German  soldiers  decided  the  battle  of  Pharsalus  in 
favor  of  Csesar,  while  compatriots  of  theirs  were  fight- 
ing on  the  side  of  Pompey.  This  fact  was  a  source  of 
great  pride  to  mediseval  German  writers,  who  point 


82  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

out  that  the  Roman  Empire  was  thus  founded  by 
German  prowess,  and  therein  find  another  claim  for 
the  title  of  the  German  kings  to  the  crown  of  the  Roman 
emperors.  One  year  later,  in  Egypt,  we  find  German 
outposts  in  the  army  of  Labienus  exchanging  jokes  and 
gibes  with  their  countrymen  on  the  other  side. 

Thus  we  see  in  these  beginnings,  which  have  there- 
fore been  treated  with  some  detail,  not  only  a  number 
of  traits  of  character  which  have  accompanied  the  Ger- 
mans through  period  after  period  of  their  history,  but 
also  a  picture  of  the  entire  space  of  five  hundred  years 
of  war  between  Germans  and  Romans,  of  expansion  by 
land  and  sea,  of  the  semi-peaceful  Germanization  of  the 
Roman  army,  of  the  transfer  of  whole  peoples  into 
Roman  territory,  of  advances  on  the  part  of  the  Romans 
into  Germany  without  lasting  success,  in  spite  of  forti- 
fied places  and  frontier  intrenchments.  The  edifice 
of  the  Roman  Empire,  for  centuries  sustained  almost 
alone  by  those  German  soldiers  and  their  generals, 
becomes  more  and  more  rotten,  until  at  last  Odowakar 
makes  an  end  of  it  all,  and  takes  the  title  of  King  of 
Italy,  leaving  the  rest  of  the  Empire  to  its  fate. 

Before  this  the  Visigoths  under  Alaric  had  for  a  time 
held  Greece  and  Italy,  Athens  and  Rome,  in  their 
power;  they  founded  their  own  empire  in  southern 
Gaul,  extending  it  in  time  into  Spain.  The  Vandals  had 
crossed  over  from  Spain  to  northern  Africa,  where  they 
founded  their  powerful  empire,  and  only  thirty  years  after 
Alaric  made  a  raid  on  Rome.  The  expression  "Van- 
dalism," coined  by  French  clerics  at  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  has  unjustly  caused  them  to  be 
represented  as  the  worst  type  of  savages.  A  contem- 
poraneous author,  the  Roman-Gallic  presbyter  Sal- 
vianus,  judges  differently ;  he  writes  about  450  A.D.  : 


vii  THE  MIGRATIONS  83 

"  Whose  wickedness  is  as  great  as  ours  (i.e.,  the  Romans')  ? 
There  is  none  of  that  kind  found  among  the  Vandals, 
none  among  the  Goths.  One  thing  is  certain,  the 
Vandals  have  been  very  moderate.  Who  can  help  but 
admire  the  tribes  of  the  Vandals,  who,  although  enter- 
ing the  richest  cities,  concerned  themselves  with  the 
pleasures  of  the  corrupt  only  in  so  far  as  they  scorned 
their  moral  corruption,  and  adapted  only  their  good 
qualities?  Among  the  Goths  there  are  no  unchaste 
people  but  Romans,  and  among  the  Vandals  not  even 
Romans ;  not  that  they  alone  are  chaste,  but,  to  relate 
something  new,  incredible,  and  almost  unheard  of,  they 
have  made  even  the  Romans  chaste."  We  see  that 
those  very  Vandals  were  the  ones  to  accept  Mediter- 
ranean culture  most  quickly  and  most  completely,  and 
therefore  were  the  first  of  the  conquering  Germanic 
nations  to  perish  in  the  newly  acquired  luxury.  Soon 
the  same  fate  reached  the  Ostrogoths,  the  lords  of  Italy, 
who  were  the  last  protectors  of  ancient  art  and  litera- 
ture, and  who  by  wise  agricultural  improvements 
restored  the  exhausted  and  devastated  soil  of  Italy  to 
renewed  fertility.  Soon  the  Langobards  succeeded  them 
in  the  rule  of  Italy.  These,  however,  no  less  than  the 
Burgundians  of  the  Rhone  valley,  and  the  Visigoths  in 
Gaul  and  Spain,  disappeared  in  the  course  of  time  in 
the  irresistible  process  of  assimilation  with  the  much 
more  numerous  mixture  of  peoples  that  formed  the 
Roman  population.  With  them  they  form  a  new  family 
of  nations,  whose  languages  are  based  on  the  vulgar 
Latin  of  the  common  people  of  the  Roman  provinces, 
but  whose  customs  and  character  show  plainly  visible  fea- 
tures of  the  Germanic  race  ;  the  pure  and  vigorous  blood 
of  the  German  gave  new  life  to  a  population  that  was 
apparently  doomed  to  perish  by  its  own  inner  rotten- 


84  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION       CHAP,  vn 

ness.  It  is  useless  to  complain,  from  a  Germanic  point 
of  view,  of  the  vanishing  of  these  highly  gifted  peoples ; 
they  have  left  their  indestructible  imprint  on  the  culture 
of  the  Latin  nations.  They  have  given  them  those 
traits  which  form  the  connecting  link  between  the 
Romance  and  the  German  population  of  Europe,  and 
perhaps  have  more  influence  in  creating  the  undeniable 
community  of  interest  in  our  European-American  civi- 
lization than  is  apparent  on  the  surface. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

CONVERSION   TO   CHRISTIANITY 

OF  all  the  important  results  brought  about  by  the 
great  migrations  and  the  contact  with  the  Roman  world, 
the  acceptance  of  Christianity  by  the  Germans  takes 
easily  the  first  rank.  But  it  was  not  the  Christianity 
of  the  earliest  tunes  which  was  presented  to  the  con- 
verts ;  it  was  not  the  Church  of  Christ  and  his  imme- 
diate followers,  the  persecuted  religion  of  love  and  of 
the  lowly,  which  they  embraced.  The  clergy,  after 
Christianity  had  become  the  state  religion  under  the 
house  of  Constantine,  on  the  contrary,  had  developed 
into  a  powerful  political  organization.  Outside  of 
the  Church  there  was  no  prospect  of  advancement ; 
whoever  wanted  to  be  somebody  had  to  be  a  Christian. 
No  wonder  that  these  so-called  conversions,  brought 
about  by  selfish  motives,  did  not  cause  any  change  of 
heart.  The  whole  of  the  Christian  religion  of  that  time 
consisted  in  external  form;  the  leaders  of  the  Church 
used  their  position  as  an  instrument  of  political  power, 
and,  just  as  they  might  use  their  influence  with  the 
emperor  for  some  personal  advantage,  so  the  great  mass 
of  Christians  believed  they  could  win  the  good-will  of 
the  Almighty,  especially  by  the  patronage  of  the  saints. 
This  conception  prevented  all  deeper  penetration  into 
religion,  all  attempts  to  master  its  eternal  truths,  all 
attempts  to  live  according  to  its  high  ethical  ideals. 
Political  reasons,  which  had  caused  the  acceptance  of 

85 


86  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

Christianity  by  the  Roman  emperors,  were  instrumental 
in  bringing  about  the  first  conversion  on  any  large 
scale  among  the  Germans.  Very  early  we  find  single 
converts,  and  in  some  parts  of  Germany  even  small 
communities,  founded  by  Christian  soldiers  in  the  Ro- 
man army ;  but  the  Visigoths,  who  under  the  Emperor 
Valens  were  allowed  to  settle  in  the  lands  south  of  the 
Danube,  were  the  first  to  embrace  the  new  creed  in 
large  numbers.  Following  the  example  of  the  Court 
at  Byzantium,  the  Goths  professed  Arianism,  and  their 
example  was  followed  by  all  the  East-Germanic  nations, 
a  circumstance  which  later  in  Italy,  Gaul,  and  Spain, 
where  the  Roman  faith  prevailed,  proved  a  great  ob- 
stacle in  the  bringing  about  of  friendly  relations  with 
the  conquered  population.  The  orthodox  faith  of 
Rome,  held  by  the  old  inhabitants  of  Gaul,  was  accepted 
by  the  Franks,  whose  king  found  it  to  his  advantage  to 
be  baptized,  not  only  because  he  had  vowed  to  become 
converted  in  case  the  Lord  gave  him  the  victory  over 
the  Alemans,  but  for  important  reasons  of  state.  He 
had  long  been  prepared  for  the  step  by  his  Catholic 
wife,  as  it  is  the  way  of  women  to  work  energetically  for 
the  Church.  Thus  the  way  was  laid  for  Roman  Ca- 
tholicism to  become  the  religious  creed  of  later  Germany; 
and  the  dependence  upon  Rome  was  greatly  strength- 
ened when  the  Anglo-Saxon  Winfred  received  from 
the  Pope  the  mission  of  bringing  the  Cross  to  the  heathen 
Germans  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine. 

Conditions  were  everywhere  the  same,  in  England, 
on  the  Danube,  on  the  Rhine,  and,  much  later,  in 
Scandinavia;  no  compulsion  was  used,  as  in  the  cruel 
methods  employed  by  Charles  the  Great  to  Christianize 
the  Saxons ;  the  masses  turned  to  the  god  who  proved 
himself  the  stronger.  If  the  god  of  the  Christians  would 


vin  CONVERSION  TO  CHRISTIANITY  87 

give  them  victory  in  battle,  or  if  the  gods  of  the  heathen 
failed  to  punish  the  profanation  of  their  sacred  trees  by 
the  Christian  priests,  or,  as  is  related  in  the  Life  of  St. 
Vedastes,  if  the  beer  disappeared  from  the  mugs  of  the 
heathen  Franks  before  they  could  bring  them  to  their 
lips,  while  their  Christian  companions  were  allowed  to 
enjoy  their  potations,  such  incidents  brought  about  more 
conversions  than  any  preachings  of  the  missionaries. 

There  is  one  point  I  find  generally  overlooked  in  the 
consideration  of  these  early  conversions.  When  we 
think  to-day  of  the  gods  of  pagan  worship,  whether 
they  are  clad  in  the  splendor  of  Greek  mythology  or 
the  poor  garb  of  savage  fetichism,  we  think  of  them  as 
the  products  of  the  imagination  with  no  real  existence. 
But  in  that  age  they  were  very  real  beings  not  only 
for  the  newly  converted  pagan,  but  also  for  the  priests 
who  converted  him;  throughout  the  Bible  we  do 
not  find  the  existence  of  the  pagan  gods  denied;  they 
are  simply  characterized  as  false  gods.  They  were 
looked  upon  as  demons  of  an  inferior  kind,  who  were 
continually  striving  to  regain  power,  and  therefore  had 
continually  to  be  fought  against;  not  as  allegories  of 
the  bad  tendencies  in  man,  but  as  very  powerful  external 
forces,  fighting  for  mastery.  At  first  the  German  gods 
were  not  even  degraded  to  the  places  of  satanic  spirits. 
In  the  churches  we  find  the  same  priests  worshipping 
Christ  and  sacrificing  to  Wotan  and  Thor.  Slowly, 
under  the  influence  of  German  priests,  the  Christian 
saints  took  the  places  of  the  heathen  gods.  The  sign 
of  the  cross,  baptism,  and  other  Christian  rites  were 
readily  accepted  as  so  many  new  spells. 

On  the  whole,  the  Christianity  of  the  period,  with  its 
saints,  was  only  another  form  of  polytheism,  one  great 
system  of  superstition,  believed  in  by  high  and  low,  by 


88  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

layman  and  priest.  They  all  believed  in  the  foretelling 
of  the  future  by  the  flight  of  birds  and  by  the  position 
of  the  stars ;  they  all  believed  in  the  healing  powers  of 
the  cross,  the  relics,  and  the  holy  water.  Priests  and 
bishops  gained  and  held  their  influence  over  the  people 
probably  not  so  much  as  the  representatives  of  a  higher 
civilization  or  a  more  spiritual  religion,  but  as  the 
wielders  of  magical  power.  Not  until  much  later  did 
the  spiritualizing  influences  of  religion  become  evident, 
and  to  some  parts  of  the  people  they  have  never  reached 
at  all ;  in  the  words  of  a  Protestant  clergyman,  who  has 
published  his  experience  as  a  village  pastor:  "The 
German  peasant  has  never  been  converted  at  all  to 
Christianity."  Indeed,  the  crucified  teacher  of  suffer- 
ing and  humility  made  small  sympathetic  appeal  to 
the  Germans,  to  whom  assertion  of  one's  self  is  the 
essence  of  life  to  an  extent  which  was  probably  far 
beyond  the  imagination  of  the  Oriental  founders  of 
Christianity;  a  self-assertion  in  which  is  to  be  sought 
the  psychological  foundation  of  the  separation  of  Ger- 
manic Christianity  from  Rome. 

In  a  sixth-century  hymn  in  honor  of  St.  Medardus, 
Chilperic,  the  Meroving,  prays  for  "  power  and  personal 
assertion,"  and  deprecates  the  " false  humility  which 
takes  the  food  from  the  one  who  eats  and  the  sweetness 
from  the  brave."  Even  more  characteristic  is  the  way 
in  which  Christianity  is  Germanized  in  the  "Heliand,"the 
oldest  continental  German  epic  preserved  in  its  entirety. 
It  was  composed  by  a  monk  of  Werden  about  822,  and 
is  full  of  the  true  Germanic  spirit,  in  strong  contrast 
to  the  Gospels  of  Otfrid,  written  not  many  years  later. 
Christ  is  conceived  as  the  senior  and  the  disciples  as  his 
trustio,  his  thanes.  With  delight  the  author  dwells  on 
passages  like  that  where  Peter,  "the  swift  warrior," 


vm  CONVERSION  TO  CHRISTIANITY  89 

cuts  off  Malchus'  ear ;  "Then  became  enraged  the  swift 
sword-thane  Peter ;  his  wrath  welled  up,  he  could  not 
speak,  so  deeply  it  grieved  him  that  they  wanted  to 
bind  the  Lord.  Fiercely  he  went,  the  bold  thane,  to 
stand  in  front  of  his  liege-lord.  Not  wavering  was  his 
heart,  nor  shy  his  bosom.  At  once  he  drew  the  sword 
from  his  side  and  smote  the  foremost  of  his  foes  with  full 
force,  so  that  Malchus  was  reddened  with  the  sword's 
edge  on  the  right  side,  his  ear  hewn  off,  his  cheek  gashed, 
blood  leaped  forth  welling  from  the  wound.  And  the 
people  drew  back,  fearing  the  sword  bite"  (Kuno 
Francke's  translation).  We  look  in  vain,  on  the  other 
hand,  •  for  the  verse  that  teaches  us  to  offer  the  left 
cheek  when  the  right  has  been  smitten. 

If  we  look  at  the  whole  question  with  the  judgment 
distance  gives,  we  must  confess  that  Christianity  in  its 
original  form  could  never  have  been  made  acceptable 
to  this  young  and  vigorous  nation.  It  was  a  religion 
of  consolation,  of  salvation,  welcomed  as  a  relief  by 
decadent  antiquity,  by  a  world  which  was  spiritually  at 
discord  with  itself,  an  age  which  had  emptied  the  cup 
of  life  to  the  dregs  and  had  nothing  left  to  hope  for. 
No  such  state  of  mind  with  the  Germans  !  Ascending, 
brimful  of  life,  all  faculties  eager  to  manifest  themselves 
in  energetic  action,  confident  of  their  strength,  feeling 
that  all  the  blessings  of  the  earth  were  awaiting  them, 
having  just  burst  forth  from  the  foggy,  stormy  forests 
and  wilds  of  the  North,  they  saw  their  future  symbolized 
in  the  smiling,  blue  skies  of  Greece  and  Italy.  Who 
could  ever  have  made  palatable  to  them,  or  even  have 
made  them  understand,  the  doctrine  of  the  renuncia- 
tion of  life,  of  the  sinfulness  of  the  pleasures  of  the 
strong,  of  the  hollowness  of  earthly  splendor? 

Thus  the  shallow  Christianity  of  the  time  was  much 


90  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION     CHAP,  vin 

more  acceptable  to  the  Germans  than  the  true  teachings 
of  Christ,  to  which  they  were  led  in  time  by  a  deepening 
of  their  own  religious  sentiment.  But  even  now  there 
seems  sometimes  to  come  out  of  the  depth  of  the  Ger- 
manic soul  a  cry  as  of  men  whose  childhood  has  been 
curtailed  by  too  severe  restraint. 

In  spite  of  the  incompatibility  of  its  fundamental 
teachings,  Christianity  possesses  some  traits  sympa- 
thetic to  the  German  character.  The  idea  of  the  infi- 
nite must  have  appealed  to  their  mystical  inclinations ; 
their  sense  of  personal  worth  must  have  been  satisfied 
to  learn  that  the  Lord  of  the  Universe  took  an  interest 
in  each  individual  —  that  the  hairs  on  his  head  were 
numbered.  Christ  and  the  Christian  saints,  further- 
more, permitted  much  more  intimately  personal  rela- 
tionship than  the  indefinite  nature  divinities  of  the 
German's  imperfectly  developed  paganism.  "They 
were  people  of  flesh  and  blood,  and  their  teaching  ap- 
peared in  that  typical  garb  of  legendary  tradition, 
just  adapted  to  his  state  of  development." 

The  entirely  new  conception  of  sin,  the  discipline 
of  the  Church,  enforced  by  temporal  punishment,  - 
all  this  made  for  self-improvement.  As  time  pro- 
gressed, the  Church  gained  its  strongest  friends,  of 
course,  among  the  oppressed ;  love  for  one's  neighbor 
and  charity  were  not  only  preached,  but  practised.  Of 
special  importance  was  the  dignity  the  Church  gave  to 
labor,  of  which  we  will  have  to  speak  in  a  later  chapter. 
These  elements  have  slowly  and  almost  insensibly, 
but  ubiquitously  and  incessantly,  done  their  work  among 
the  masses,  and  have  brought  about  the  inner  and  moral 
change  of  the  people,  of  which,  in  spite  of  examples  to 
the  contrary,  striking  because  exceptional,  the  present 
time  has  a  right  to  feel  proud. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  MIGRATIONS 
II 

The  New  Grouping  of  the  States.     The  German  of  this 
Period.    Roman  Civilization  and  the  Germans 

THE  important  change  from  the  innumerable  small 
tribes  or  peoples,  described  by  Caesar  and  Tacitus, 
to  larger  tribal  unities,  due  probably  to  the  necessity 
of  combining  against  a  superior  foe,  took  several  cen- 
turies, and  is  not  traceable  in  all  its  details.  In  the 
sixth  century,  besides  the  German  empires  in  Italy, 
Spain,  Great  Britain,  and  Gaul,  we  find  on  German 
soil :  the  Franks,  who  had  conquered  Gaul,  but  still 
kept  their  original  homes  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine; 
the  Alemans,  who  were  the  successors  and  descendants 
of  the  Suevs;  the  Bavarians  on  the  Danube;  the 
Thurings,  the  Saxons,  and  the  Frisians.  We  find  most 
of  them  under  kings  or  dukes,  but  the  laws,  first  written 
down  by  the  Franks  primarily  for  the  information  of 
the  central  government,  indicate  that  in  general  the 
democratic  institutions  of  earlier  times  were  not  greatly 
changed.  The  tribal  duchies,  though  they  threatened 
to  disappear  under  the  centralizing  influence  of  the 
stronger  Frankish  kings,  gained  new  importance,  and 
have  remained  of  decisive  influence  on  the  political 
divisions  of  Germany  down  to  the  present  day.  Their 

91 


92  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

influence  appears  too  in  the  tribal  differences,  especially 
in  those  of  dialects,  so  distinctly  characteristic  of 
modern  Germany. 

Saxons,  Angles,  and  Jutes  from  the  neck  of  the  Danish 
peninsula  and  the  lower  Elbe  had  founded  new  kingdoms 
in  England,  where,  until  the  Norman  conquest,  they 
developed  Germanic  institutions  in  general  on  the  same 
lines,  only  somewhat  more  slowly  than  then*  relatives 
on  the  Continent. 

The  tribes  on  German  soil  were  soon  to  take  the 
leading  part  in  European  politics,  a  position  which  they 
maintained  for  nearly  a  thousand  years. 

Reviewing  their  progress  from  their  first  appearance 
on  the  stage  of  history,  it  is  rather  astonishing  to  see 
how  soon  they  adapted  themselves  to  Roman  condi- 
tions, how  soon  we  find  Germans  in  the  highest  and 
most  responsible  positions  of  the  Roman  state,  and 
yet,  hi  spite  of  all  this,  how  superficial  and  gradual 
was  the  influence  of  Roman  civilization. 

As  early  as  the  second  generation  after  the  Germans 
had  become  neighbors  of  the  Empire,  we  find  their 
ethelings  Roman  citizens  and  knights.  Apt  disciples 
of  the  Romans,  they  used  the  strategy  and  the  tricks 
learned  from  them  for  the  destruction  of  their  teachers 
on  German  soil.  So  early  do  we  meet  among  them  with 
the  same  faithlessness,  deception,  and  treachery  as 
among  their  Italic  foes,  that  we  must  question  ourselves 
as  to  whether  the  straightforwardness,  openness,  and 
truthfulness  which  their  legal  conceptions  show  as 
principal  traits  of  Germanic  character  were  valid  only 
between  fellow-tribesmen,  and  whether  the  famous 
German  loyalty  referred  only  to  the  voluntary  oath  of 
the  thane  to  his  liege-lord.  In  the  Roman  army, 
Germans  were  found  by  no  means  in  the  private  ranks 


ix  THE  MIGRATIONS  93 

only.  More  and  more  frequently  they  occupied  high 
and  important  positions,  and  under  Constantine  and  his 
followers  Germans  were  finally  at  the  head  of  the 
military  and  civil  administrations.  Against  their  own 
nature,  so  to  speak,  they  learned  the  foreign  art  of 
siege  warfare,  which  was  intrusted  by  Emperor  Julian 
to  Dagalaif,  the  chief  of  his  body-guard.  The  attack 
on  fortified  places  had  been  the  weakest  point  in  Ger- 
man warfare,  as  they  had  no  cities  themselves,  hating 
the  life  in  them  and  comparing  it  to  that  of  snakes  and 
creeping  worms  in  caves  and  crevices.  Soon  the 
Germanic  generals  became  the  actual  rulers.  Arbo- 
gast,  the  Frank,  as  early  as  372  so  domineered  over  the 
Emperor  Valentinian  that  when  threatened  with  dis- 
missal Arbogast  turned  upon  the  emperor  with  the 
words,  "  What  you  have  not  given  me  you  cannot 
take  from  me."  Valentinian  paid  with  his  life  for  this 
attempt  at  rebellion.  Matters  went  on  in  the  same 
way  until  Odowakar  put  an  end  to  the  comedy  one 
hundred  years  later.  What  brilliant  personages  we 
meet  on  the  German  side  !  —  from  Ariovistus,  Arminius, 
and  Claudius  Civilis  down  to  ^Etius,  the  conqueror  of 
Attila,  Alaric  the  Visigoth,  Genseric  the  Vandal, 
Theodoric  the  Great,  the  last  three  statesmen  of  a 
grand  stamp,  who  unfortunately  lacked  successors  of 
equal  grandeur  to  complete  their  work. 

The  Franks  were  more  fortunate  in  then*  royal  family, 
the  Merovings.  After  then-  kingdom  was  united,  they 
had  a  succession  of  five  brilliant,  tenacious  rulers,  who 
were  able  to  build  up  and  secure  then-  realm  so  that  the 
foundations  laid  by  them  are  still  visible. 

All  this  justifies  the  conclusion  that  the  people  we  are 
dealing  with  brought  with  them  eminent  intellectual  and 
moral  qualities  with  which  to  begin  their  historical 


94  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

career.  Aside  from  the  Germanic  laws,  however,  which 
retained  their  character  throughout  all  migrations  and 
changes,  there  is  no  direct  testimony  to  their  mental 
development  except  their  language.  Yet  we  have  not, 
as  one  might  think,  a  literature  in  that  language,  for 
nothing  has  escaped  the  fanaticism  of  bigotry.  Only 
the  wealth  of  the  language  itself  leads  to  the  conclusion 
that  those  songs,  to  which  the  Romans  bear  witness, 
cannot  have  been  of  mean  poetical  worth.  The  nature 
of  the  German  language  itself  affords  infallible  proof 
that  the  Germans  possessed  peculiar  psychic  qualities, 
one  of  which  was  pointed  out  in  a  former  chapter,  that 
sufficiently  explains  the  ease  with  which  they  were  able 
to  find  their  place  and  their  profit  in  an  environment  of 
foreign  culture.  It  shows  that  they  possessed,  as  a 
Frenchman  puts  it,  the  "power  to  follow  things  and 
ideas  through  all  their  details  without  doing  violence 
to  either  " ;  exactly  the  gift  which  must  have  been  of 
the  greatest  help  under  the  conditions. 

Indeed,  the  German  language  must  be  recognized  as 
one  of  the  greatest  cultural  forces  which  have  contrib- 
uted to  make  the  German.  This  language,  of  which 
Schiller  says  that  it  expresses  everything,  the  deepest 
and  the  most  transitory,  the  spirit  and  the  soul,  that  it 
is  full  of  meaning,  has  been  described  most  beautifully 
in  the  simple  words  of  Houston  Stewart  Chamberlain : 
"The  German  language  is  infinitely  deep:  it  feeds  us 
with  good  ideas,  which  flow  to  us  without  effort  as  a 
mother's  milk  feeds  the  child." 

As  we  are  approaching  the  point  where  begins  the 
formation  of  a  German  nation  with  an  independent 
development,  it  has  seemed  appropriate  to  take  another 
glance  at  these  fundamental  traits  of  character  which 
are  perhaps  the  most  important,  and  with  which  a 


ix  THE  MIGRATIONS  95 

patriotic   and  romantic  posterity  likes  to   endow  its 
ancestors. 

To  get  a  picture  of  the  life  of  the  migration  period,  let 
us  look  at  the  personality  of  one  of  the  great  warrior 
kings  who  destroyed  the  ancient  world,  the  Visigoth 
king,  Theodoric  II,  who  fell  on  the  Catalaunian  fields 
against  Attila,  the  Hun.  The  description  is  taken  from 
a  contemporary  author:  " Theodoric  has  a  powerful 
figure  of  middle  height,  a  broad  chest,  strong  limbs, 
large  hands  and  small  feet,  curly  hair,  bushy  eyebrows, 
remarkably  large  eyes  and  eyelids,  a  beaked  nose,  thin 
lips ;  he  is  lively,  merry,  passionate,  exuberant  of  vigor 
and  health  of  body  and  mind.  Before  daylight  he  goes 
to  chapel,  and  then  holds  court  till  eight  o'clock.  At 
eight  o'clock  he  leaves  his  throne  in  order  either  to 
count  his  treasure  or  to  see  his  horses.  While  hunting 
he  thinks  it  below  his  dignity  to  carry  his  bow  himself 
or  have  it  ready-drawn ;  a  boy  follows  him  carrying  it. 
If  any  game  comes  in  sight,  he  asks  a  companion  what 
animal  he  should  hit,  draws  his  bow,  and  never 
misses.  At  twelve  o'clock  he  dines,  plainly,  but  on 
Saturdays  with  great  splendor ;  he  drinks  little,  and, 
instead  of  sleeping  after  dinner,  he  plays  backgammon 
or  throws  dice.  He  loves  play  passionately,  and  com- 
mands those  about  him  to  be  merry,  ridding  themselves 
of  all  backwardness  before  the  king,  for  what  he  seems 
to  fear  is  to  be  feared  by  his  subjects.  When  he  wins 
he  is  of  extraordinarily  fine  humor,  then  is  the  time  to 
ask  a  favor  of  him,  and,"  says  the  good  bishop  who 
wrote  this  report,  "many  a  time  I  lost  my  game  and 
thus  gained  my  point.  At  three  o'clock  the  affairs  of 
state  are  taken  up  again.  The  suitors  not  attended  to 
in  the  morning  are  present,  but  likewise  the  servants 
to  drive  them  away  and  keep  order.  This  is  continued 


96  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION       CHAP,  ix 

until  supper-time  or  until  important  matters  are  brought 
up  by  the  palace  officials,  who  must  stay  about  him  until 
bed-time.  At  supper  there  are  jokes  and  gibes ;  biting, 
cruel,  or  offending  jokes,  as  were  customary  at  the  feasts 
of  the  Roman  emperors,  are  not  allowed.  As  far  as 
music  is  concerned,  water  organs,  players  on  the  flute, 
the  lyre,  the  cymbal,  and  the  harp  are  not  admitted. 
He  enjoys  only  the  ancient  music  of  his  people,  whose 
soothing  tunes  both  soothe  the  soul  and  please  the 
ear." 


BOOK  THE   SECOND 

THE   CREATION   OF  THE   FATHERLAND 
600-1400 


THE   STATE   OF  THE   FKANKS 

OF  all  the  Germanic  tribes  who  took  a  prominent 
part  in  the  destruction  of  the  Roman  Empire  and 
founded  German  realms  upon  its  ruins,  only  one,  the 
Franks,  succeeded  in  creating  on  the  continent  of 
Europe  a  lasting  organization.  Then*  success  was  due, 
in  part,  to  their  uninterrupted  local  connection  with 
their  native  German  soil,  and  in  part  to  the  almost 
complete  separation  of  the  Romance  and  the  German 
element  under  their  rule,  but  in  large  measure  to  the 
talented  successors  of  the  founders  of  the  Empire. 
These  Meroving  kings  do  not  usually  receive  overkind 
treatment  at  the  hands  of  history ;  we  are  encouraged 
to  work  ourselves  up  to  a  high  pitch  of  moral  indig- 
nation over  a  series  of  unheard-of  atrocities,  and  of 
scandalous  stories  concerning  the  royal  women.  But 
the  stories,  after  all,  are  not  worse  than  those  told  of 
the  imperial  court  of  "highly  civilized"  Rome;  in  an 
age  which  followed  the  continuous  bloodshed  of  over 
five  hundred  years,  outrages  were  everywhere  common 
enough  to  mitigate,  not  the  horror  of  the  deeds  them- 
selves, but  the  moral  guilt,  at  least,  of  the  doers.  St. 
Gregory,  Bishop  of  Tours,  who  might  pass  as  a  rather 
good  man  to-day,  tells  such  stories,  more  or  less  legen- 
dary, in  great  detail,  without  feeling  at  all  called  upon 
to  show  moral  disapproval.  On  the  contrary,  when 
the  Church  is  benefited  he  detects  the  friendly  ruling 
of  Divine  Providence.  To  give  only  one  instance : 

99 


100  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

Gregory  tells  us  that  Chloderic,  the  son  of  Sigibert,  king 
of  the  Rhenish  Franks,  was  instigated  by  Chlodowech 
(Clovis)  to  kill  his  father  and  to  usurp  his  throne. 
After  the  deed  Chloderic  receives  an  embassy  from 
Chlodowech  and  exhibits  to  them  his  treasure,  prepar- 
ing to  show  his  gratitude  for  their  master's  good  advice 
by  sending  him  a  present.  While  he  is  opening  a  box 
filled  with  gold  coin,  the  ambassadors  ask  him  to  push 
in  his  arm  to  give  them  an  idea  of  how  deep  the  gold 
is,  and  as  he  bends  over  they  cleave  his  skull  with 
the  francisca.  And  Chlodowech,  who  had  planned  the 
whole  thing,  hastens  to  Cologne  and  is  raised  on  the 
shield,  i.e.,  made  king.  Next  he  packs  off  another 
cousin  of  his,  King  Chararich,  and  his  son  into  a 
monastery,  where  they  are  rendered  unfit  for  the 
throne  by  the  loss  of  then1  long  blond  curls,  the  pride 
of  kings.  When  Chararich's  son  lets  his  curls  grow 
again,  both  father  and  son  are  beheaded.  Again, 
King  Rachnachar  of  Cambrai,  and  Richar,  his  brother, 
this  same  Chlodowech  treacherously  loads  with  chains, 
and  before  he  beheads  them,  taunts  Rachnachar  for 
dishonoring  the  Meroving  family  by  allowing  himself 
to  be  enchained,  and  Richar  for  not  having  sufficiently 
assisted  his  brother.  A  great  many  more  of  his  cousins, 
kings  of  the  smaller  Frankish  states,  are  killed  by  him 
directly  or  through  others.  Sometimes  it  happens 
that  his  accomplices  complain  that  the  gold  ornaments 
they  have  received  as  a  reward  for  their  treacheries 
are  of  gilded  lead ;  Chlodowech  sneeringly  asks  them 
how  they  could  expect  honest  treatment  after  having 
themselves  broken  faith  with  their  masters.  Finally, 
to  an  assembly  of  his  people,  he  complains  of  his  lonely 
condition,  and,  it  is  said,  the  distant  relative  who  did 
actually  come  forward,  either  out  of  pity  or  hope  of 


x  THE   STATE   OF  THE   FRANKS  101 

advancement,  was  killed  like  the  rest.  The  pious 
bishop,  after  relating  all  this  treachery,  parricide,  and 
cruelty  on  the  part  of  Chlodowech,  ends  by  saying : 
"But  God  threw  down  his  enemies  before  him,  day 
after  day,  and  increased  his  empire,  because  he  walked 
before  him  with  a  righteous  heart  and  did  what  was 
pleasing  in  his  eyes."  This  was  by  no  means  hypoc- 
risy on  the  part  of  Gregory,  but  the  natural  point  of 
view  of  those  savage  times.  It  is  easy  for  us  to  under- 
stand, however,  that  the  Franks  of  all  Germans  had 
the  worst  reputation  for  trickery  and  falsehood.  But 
a  touch  of  relief  is  not  wholly  lacking.  It  is  told  of 
Queen  Brunhild,  whose  cruel  feud  with  Fredegund  is 
dwelt  upon  with  sensational  explicitness  by  disgusted 
moralists,  that  she  spent  not  a  little  money  to  buy  and 
free  captive  enemies.  Chilperich,  a  king  who  was  not 
afraid  of  blood,  wrote  Latin  hymns,  from  one  of  which 
we  have  already  had  occasion  to  quote  in  this  book; 
he  wrote  theological  treatises,  independent  enough  to 
be  pronounced  heretical ;  and  he  added  four  letters  to 
the  Roman  alphabet  for  the  rendition  of  certain  sounds 
in  the  Frankish  language.  The  tomb  of  Childerich, 
the  father  of  Chlodowech,  which  was  discovered  in 
Tournai  on  the  Scheldt,  indicates  a  rather  advanced 
state  of  civilization.  The  golden  bees,  which  adorned 
his  royal  cloak,  were  adopted  by  Napoleon  the  First, 
and  became  a  Bonapartist  emblem.  All  the  Meroving 
kings  were  able  to  write,  an  accomplishment  of  which 
the  earlier  mediaeval  emperors  could  not  boast. 

The  Merovings,  like  all  German  conquerors,  allowed 
their  subjects  to  be  judged  each  according  to  the  laws 
of  his  own  tribe,  the  Roman  inhabitants  of  Gaul  by 
the  Roman  law.  The  old  German  laws  were  some- 
what modified  by  the  new  conditions.  Roman  law 


102  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

influenced  the  conception  of  the  royal  power.  The 
functions  of  the  moot,  which  in  the  expanded  state 
could  not  possibly  meet  regularly,  were  transferred, 
generally  speaking,  to  the  king.  But  this  new  au- 
thority the  king  found  difficult  to  control  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  great  landholders  and  officials. 

The  new  administrative  unit  was  the  Gau,  English 
shire,  which  was  divided  into  hundreds.  The  king's 
representative  in  the  larger  districts  was  the  count, 
Graf,  Old  English  gerefa,  from  which  word,  combined 
with  shire,  the  word  sheriff,  is  derived;  the  leader 
of  the  hundreds  was  the  hunno.  In  the  court  they 
were  assisted  by  the  rachimburgi,  corresponding  to  the 
modern  German  Schoeffen,  as  distinct  from  jurymen. 
The  Schoeffen  represented  the  ancient  community,  now 
too  difficult  to  assemble.  But  in  spite  of  some  external 
developments,  the  principles  of  the  ancient  laws  were 
not  changed. 

The  Merovings  were  the  founders  of  the  first  national 
monarchy.  Under  their  reign  the  foundations  were 
firmly  laid  on  which  were  based  the  legal  and  constitu- 
tional growths  of  the  Middle  Ages.  But  the  nobility 
gradually  deprived  royalty  of  its  powers,  and  the 
representatives  of  the  aristocracy  at  the  royal  court, 
the  maiores  domus,  ministers  of  the  palace,  became 
more  and  more  influential.  When  after  several  changes 
this  office  had  come  into  the  undisturbed  possession  of 
the  Karlings  or  Arnulfings,  Pippin  of  Heristal  suc- 
ceeded in  uniting  in  his  hands  the  office  of  maior  domus 
at  all  the  Meroving  courts  in  the  Frankish  empire. 
After  this  the  Merovings  were  kings  only  in  name. 
Karl  Martel,  the  son  of  Pippin,  drove  back  the  Moors, 
who  had  crossed  the  Pyrenees,  defeating  them  in  two 
battles,  and  thus  probably  saving  the  young  Christian- 


x  THE  STATE  OF  THE  FRANKS  103 

German  civilization  from  total  destruction.  His  son 
Pippin  found  it  to  his  advantage  to  listen  to  the  prayers 
of  the  Roman  bishop  for  help  against  the  Langobards. 
With  this  began  that  fatal  connection  between  the 
papacy  and  the  Frankish,  later  the  German,  mon- 
archy, which  during  the  whole  period  of  the  Middle 
Ages  had  a  decisive  influence  on  the  development  of 
Germany,  and  to-day  continues  to  affect  its  inner 
policy.  Pippin  made  use  of  the  authority  of  the 
Roman  bishop  to  send  the  last  Meroving  into  a  monas- 
tery and  to  have  himself  elected  king  of  the  Franks; 
he  was  raised  on  the  shield  according  to  ancient  custom 
and  shown  to  his  people,  but  afterwards  he  was  anointed 
by  the  bishop,  the  first  king  by  the  Grace  of  God  of 
the  German  world. 

As  brilliant  as  the  beginnings  of  the  Merovings  was 
the  start  of  the  Karling  dynasty.  Greater  than  any 
of  them,  Charles  the  Great  followed  his  three  ances- 
tors. He  found  the  Frankish  empire  externally  united, 
but  the  power  of  the  nobility  had  already  become 
strong  enough  again  to  be  felt.  Karl's  empire  extended 
from  the  Pyrenees  to  the  Rhine,  and  beyond  the  Rhine 
the  Thuringians  and  the  Bavarians  were  subject  to 
him;  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  extending  to  the 
other  side,  the  Alamans,  hi  the  North  the  Frisians, 
were  members  of  his  empire.  The  Burgundians  were 
already  Romanized.  How  Karl  with  a  strong  hand  as- 
serted his  authority  in  all  parts  of  his  realm,  how  he 
secured  and  strengthened  the  conditions  he  found,  how 
in  a  most  cruel  war  of  thirty-two  years  he  brought  the 
Saxons,  the  last  independent  tribe,  under  his  rule, 
how  he  subdued  the  Langobards  and  crowned  himself 
with  their  iron  crown,  and  how  in  his  expedition  to 
Spain  —  in  the  song  at  least  —  Count  Roland  fell  in 
Roncevaux,  —  all  this  is  too  well  known  to  need  repetition. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE  OF  THE  GERMAN  NATION 

Awakening  Sense  of  Nationality 

THE  most  far-reaching  event  of  the  reign  of  Karl 
was  the  revival,  in  name  at  least,  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
when  the  imperial  crown  was  unexpectedly  and  pre- 
maturely placed  on  the  German  king's  head  by  Pope 
Leo  III.  Karl  had  certainly  conceived  the  plan  of 
reestablishing  the  Western  Empire,  but  it  was  no 
part  of  his  plan  to  receive  his  dignity  from  the  Pope's 
hands.  The  significance  of  this  simple  and  perhaps 
unintentional  action  was  not  apparent  at  first ;  its  con- 
sequences were  reaped  by  the  popes  only  after  a  long 
period  of  patient  waiting.  The  question  might  be 
asked  why  Karl,  instead  of  reviving  the  phantom  of 
the  Roman  Empire,  did  not  proceed  to  found  a  new 
Germanic  empire  in  name  as  he  did  in  fact ;  but  it 
must  be  recalled  that  Daniel  had  prophesied  four  king- 
doms. This  number  had  already  been  made  up  by 
the  Roman  Empire ;  in  the  childlike  faith  of  the  times 
there  was  no  room  for  a  fifth.  With  the  Roman  crown, 
however,  there  descended  as  a  heritage  to  the  German 
kings  the  ideal  of  universal  monarchy,  which  for  its 
fulfilment  demanded  the  possession  of  Italy.  The  first 
Merovings  had  already  conceived  similar  plans,  but, 
like  Karl,  had  turned  their  eyes  mainly  towards  Byzan- 
tium. After  the  act  of  Leo,  however,  Rome  became 

104 


CHAP,  xi  ROMAN  EMPIRE  OF  THE  GERMAN  NATION  105 

the  centre,  though,  no  doubt,  the  restitution  of  the 
old  Roman  Empire  to  its  full  extent  was  the  real  aim 
of  the  most  ambitious  of  German  kings,  and  for  some 
there  is  strong  evidence  that  only  death  kept  them 
from  an  attempt  to  conquer  Constantinople. 

This  imperial  ideal  created  a  unity  of  culture  for  the 
nations  of  western  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages.« 
The  community  of  the  elements  of  civilization  is  an 
advantage  we  must  not  underestimate.  The  greatest 
benefit,  however,  accrued  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  which  grew  under  the  protection  of  this  im- 
perial monarchy  until  it  was  strong  enough  to  with- 
draw from  German  tutelage,  to  assert  its  universal 
power  independently,  and  to  begin  an  avenging  war  of 
Romanism  against  the  northern  barbarians. 

But  when  in  the  first  half  of  the  eleventh  century, 
shortly  before  the  victory  of  the  popes,  the  idea  of  a 
universal  European  monarchy  had  lost  ground,  the 
"Holy  Roman  Empire  of  the  German  nation,"  consisting 
of  Germany,  Burgundy,  and  Lombardy,  continued,  as  is 
justly  pointed  out,  to  afford  a  guarantee  of  peace  as 
a  solid  empire  of  central  Europe.  "Too  loosely  con- 
nected to  indulge  in  a  policy  of  conquest,  far  too 
powerful  to  invite  unwarranted  attacks,  its  existence, 
down  to  the  time  of  its  decay  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
proved  a  blessing  for  the  development  of  Europe." 

But  what  about  Germany?  There  is  nothing  more 
sterile  than  to  speculate  as  to  what  might  have  been 
the  consequence,  if  history  had  run  in  different  channels. 
All  we  can  do  is  to  state  that  the  German  kings,  in 
pursuit  of  the  Italian  policy,  lost  then*  power  at  home, 
and  during  mediaeval  times  brought  Germany  very 
near  to  ruin  and  dissolution,  dissolution  indeed  during 
the  Interregnum  in  the  thirteenth  and  again  at  the 


106  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Who  will  say 
that  the  absence  of  a  strong  central  power  has  been 
detrimental  to  German  culture  ?  Of  the  ancient  civili- 
zation of  Italy  not  a  great  deal  was  imbibed  by  the 
Germans  during  their  Roman  expeditions.  Most 
Italians  looked  upon  them  as  foreign  oppressors,  and 
few  of  the  Germans  returned  to  Germany;  for  cen- 
turies the  flower  of  German  manhood  found  an  in- 
glorious end  not  so  much  on  the  field  of  battle  as  by 
epidemics  or  by  the_dagger  and  poison  of  the  assassin. 
Hence  the  imperial  policy,  spite  of  all  its  splendor, 
was  not  slow  in  losing  its  popularity  in  Germany. 
Germans  learned  at  a  very  early  period  what  it  was 
to  be  only  a  cat's  paw  for  the  Pope.  Thietmar  of 
Merseburg,  who  lived  in  the  first  decades  of  the  eleventh 
century,  says  of  Italy:  "The  ah-  and  the  inhabitants 
of  that  country  somehow  do  not  agree  with  our  nature. 
Much  trickery  and  deception  are  found  in  the  land  of 
Rome  and  in  Lombardy.  All  who  come  there  are 
received  with  little  love ;  everything  that  is  needed  by 
the  stranger  here  must  be  dearly  paid  for,  and  this 
always  at  the  risk  of  fraud.  Many  die  of  poison. 
The  German  warriors  are  always  glad  to  see  their 
native  fields,  which  seem  to  smile  so  serenely  upon 
them."  When  Otto  III  revealed  his  plan  of  imperial 
renovation,  there  was  serious  talk  of  giving  him  the 
choice  between  the  dignities  of  Roman  Emperor  and 
of  German  king.  At  a  later  period  the  prospect  that 
Pope  Gregory  IX  might  transfer  the  imperial  crown 
from  Frederick  II  to  a  monarch  of  different  nationality 
was  welcomed  as  a  blessing  for  Germany.  When  this 
Italian  policy  of  the  kings  had  given  the  German 
vassals  an  opportunity  to  gain  strength,  they  refused 
again  and  again  to  sacrifice  their  welfare  to  the  external 


xi       ROMAN  EMPIRE   OF  THE  GERMAN  NATION      107 

splendor  of  the  imperial  power,  which  in  consequence 
had  to  succumb  to  the  Italian  policy  of  the  popes. 

In  Germany  in  the  meantime  there  had  developed  a 
vigorous  national  spirit.  The  successes  of  the  Ger- 
mans during  the  Migrations  and  their  conquest  of  the 
Roman  world  could  not  but  produce  a  proud  sense  of 
the  superiority  of  the  dominant  race.  This  is  expressed 
in  their  laws,  where  the  weregild,  the  compensation, 
for  killing  a  Roman  was  only  one-half  or  one-third 
that  for  killing  a  German.  In  Alaric  national  pride 
had  already  gained  sufficient  strength  to  make  it  hateful 
to  him  to  live  among  strangers  as  a  Roman  confederate 
or  to  render  service  to  them  instead  of  concentrating 
the  strength  of  the  nation  on  the  founding  of  realms 
of  their  own.  He  at  least  had  understood  the  kinship 
of  all  Germanic  nations,  although  his  own  people  had 
left  their  old  seats  in  Germany  long  before,  and  had 
led  a  separate  existence  for  centuries.  For  when  he 
forced  Rome  to  surrender  he  insisted  on  the  liberation 
not  only  of  all  the  Gothic,  but  of  all  the  Germanic, 
slaves  in  the  city,  which  act  set  forty  thousand  Ger- 
mans free.  This  difference  between  the  Germans  and 
Romans  was  continually  emphasized  by  their  inherited 
law  and  by  their  hostility  to  Roman  influences,  es- 
pecially on  the  part  of  the  clergy.  The  deliberate  pro- 
tection and  furtherance  given  to  Germanic  institutions 
look  very  much  like  conscious  opposition  to  the  new 
civilization ;  we  hesitate  to  attribute  this  refusal  to  a 
lack  of  intelligence,  a  state  of  mind  too  weak  to  recog- 
nize the  advantages  of  the  higher  culture.  It  is  justly 
pointed  out  that  in  the  material  foundations  of  exist- 
ence, which  would  appear  to  offer  the  nearest  field  for 
Romanization,  the  national  element  easily  asserts  itself 
either  openly  or  slightly  disguised.  The  attempts  at  a 


108  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

classical  renaissance  by  Karl  and  Otto  the  Great  were 
without  lasting  influence,  and  until  late  in  the  thirteenth 
century  we  find  the  proper  names  exclusively  German, 
the  best  witness  for  the  living  ideals  of  a  people.  When 
the  Karling  dynasty  came  to  an  end,  the  German 
princes  immediately  looked  about  for  a  new  head  of 
the  nation,  and  found  him  among  the  Saxons,  which 
tribe  had  belonged  to  them  politically  for  hardly  more 
than  a  century.  Even  the  Langobards,  though  having 
lost  their  Germanic  language,  still  felt  themselves  one 
with  their  racial  associates,  although  they  did  not  yet 
have  a  common  name.  The  Bishop  Liutbrand,  who 
in  968  was  sent  as  an  ambassador  to  the  Byzantine 
emperor,  the  glorious  Nikephorus  Phokas,  to  ask  him 
to  give  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  the  son  of  the 
German  emperor,  bears  witness  to  this.  Contemptu- 
ously the  CaBsar  said :  "  You  are  not  Romans,  but  only 
Langobards!"  To  this  the  German  proudly  retorted 
that  Romulus  had  founded  his  city  from  the  scum  of 
humanity  and  called  them  Romans.  "This,"  he  con- 
tinued, "is  the  noble  pedigree  of  the  so-called  masters 
of  the  world;  we,  however,  we  Langobards,  Saxons, 
Franks,  Lothringians,  Bavarians,  and  Burgundians, 
despise  them  so  deeply  that  we  know  of  no  better  way 
to  insult  an  enemy  than  to  call  him  a  Roman.  Coward- 
ice and  meanness,  avarice,  sumptuousness,  lying  and 
deceit,  in  short,  all  vices  are  comprised  in  this  one 
word." 

A  few  words  may  not  be  out  of  place  as  regards 
the  name  of  the  Germans.  The  word  Germani  was 
never  used  by  the  Germans  themselves  to  denote 
their  nation,  and  the  use  of  its  German  equivalent,  die 
Germanen,  has  been  introduced  by  scholars  in  modern 
times  to  denote  all  the  people  of  Germanic  family 


xi       ROMAN  EMPIRE  OF  THE  GERMAN  NATION      109 

which  were  comprised  under  that  name  by  Roman 
authors.  The  word  is  probably  of  Keltic  origin,  and 
may  mean  the  shouters  or  screamers,  although  there  are 
serious  doubts  as  to  this  interpretation.  The  fact  that 
the  English  language  has  taken  over  the  Latin  word 
Germans  in  its  narrow  meaning  makes  it  somewhat 
difficult  to  differentiate  between  the  nation  and  the 
greater  Germanic  family.  In  spite  of  its  erroneous 
application,  designating  a  Keltic  tribe,  "  Teutonic  "  might 
be  conveniently  used  to  distinguish  between  the  nation 
and  the  family,  if  English  authors  would  only  agree 
upon  its  definite  use.  As  it  is,  I  have  preferred  to 
avoid  it  altogether,  and  where  it  was  of  importance 
took  advantage  of  the  two  adjectives  "German"  and 
" Germanic,"  which  make  the  proper  distinction. 

The  Germans'  name  for  themselves,  deutsch,  is  an 
appellation  which  the  English  limited  to  those  Ger- 
mans who  lived  nearest  to  them,  that  is,  the  Hollanders, 
who  have  been  separated  from  Germany  since  1648. 
This  word  was  originally  an  adjective,  thiudisk,  and 
referred  to  the  language  designating  the  language  of 
the  people  (thiudd)  as  distinguished  from  the  Latin  of 
the  clergy;  so  that  thiudisk,  deutsch,  means  originally 
popular  or  vernacular.  In  its  Latinized  form,  theodisca, 
it  is  found  first  in  786,  in  a  bishop's  report  to  the  Pope 
Hadrian  regarding  an  Anglo-Saxon  synod.  Two  years 
later  the  annals  of  the  monastery  of  Lorsch  speak  of 
the  theodisca  lingua.  During  the  ninth  and  tenth 
centuries  we  find  the  form  teutisca,  and,  probably  in- 
fluenced by  the  similarity  of  the  sound  in  the  name  of 
the  Keltic  allies  of  the  Kimbers,  there  first  appears  in 
the  chancellery  of  Otto  the  Great,  about  960,  the 
adjective  teutonicus,  but  still  applied  to  the  language 
only.  A  hundred  years  later  it  was  applied  not  to 


110          HISTORY   OP  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION       CHAP,  xi 

the  language,  but  to  the  country ;  in  1079  we  read  for 
the  first  time  the  phrase  teutonica  patria,  das  deutsche 
Vaterland,  and  in  the  Kaiser chronik,  about  1150,  we 
hear  of  diutschi  man  and  diutschi  liuti,  meaning  Ger- 
man man  and  German  people. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE   FEUDAL   SYSTEM   IN   GERMANY 

PARALLEL  to  the  expansion  of  the  East  Frankish 
kingdom  into  the  Roman  Empire  of  the  German 
Nation,  of  which  we  spoke  in  the  last  chapter,  there 
took  place  the  development  of  the  feudal  system. 
Montesquieu  and  others  try  to  trace  its  origin  directly 
to  that  peculiar  institution  of  the  comitatus,  the 
gasindi,  or  voluntary  retinue,  which  played  such  an 
important  part  in  the  social  position  and  adventures 
of  the  German  etheling.  In  support  they  quote  Taci- 
tus:  "The  thanes  ask  of  the  liberality  of  their  chiefs 
the  warlike  horse  and  the  bloody  and  victorious  spear ; 
for  food  and  supplies,  rich  but  not  luxurious,  take  the 
place  of  wages."  While  the  antrustiones  of  the  Frankish 
kings  may  very  well  be  compared  to  these  early  thanes 
and  the  relation  of  liege-lord  and  vassal  to  that  of  the 
alderman  (senior,  French,  seigneur)  and  his  trustio, 
direct  derivation  of  one  from  the  other,  while  possible, 
is  not  absolutely  necessary,  as  the  same  conditions 
have  produced  "feudal  systems"  elsewhere. 

The  word  feudal  is  commonly  derived  from  the 
medieval  Latin  feodum  or  feudum,  which  has  nothing 
to  do  with  feuds,  —  however  frequent  they  were  in 
the  times  of  feudal  law,  —  but  consists  of  the  old 
word  fee  (from  fihu,  cattle,  which,  as  we  know,  took  the 
place  of  money),  and  the  suffix  -od,  which  means 
property;  feodum  therefore  means  property  in  fee, 

ill 


112  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

that  is,  in  loan,  or  as  a  reward,  while  allodium  means 
land  which  is  all,  i.e.,  absolute  property  with  no  con- 
dition attached  to  it.  When  our  law  calls  such  allodial 
property  a  property  in  fee  simple,  we  have  a  relic  of 
the  feudal  system,  which  claimed  that  all  land  theo- 
retically belonged  to  the  king.  This  theory  was  realized 
hi  practice  much  further  in  England  under  William 
the  Conqueror  and  his  successors  than  in  Germany, 
although  Charles  the  Great  took  the  oath  of  fealty, 
after  the  Frankish  fashion,  of  every  freeman  hi  his 
empire. 

To  follow  up  the  thread  of  development  from  the 
earliest  times,  let  us  recall  the  primitive  organization 
of  the  clan  as  the  common  holder  of  land.  Everybody 
was  obliged  to  fight  the  wars  of  his  tribe,  and  to  take 
part  in  the  deliberations  of  the  moot,  especially  when 
it  acted  as  a  court  of  justice.  The  migrations  had 
brought  about,  especially  where  we  have  to  do  with 
purely  German,  or,  as  we  might  as  well  say,  Germanic 
communities,  hardly  any  other  change  than  the  gradual 
breaking  up  of  the  clan,  as  strangers  were  adopted 
into  it  and  relatives  emigrated,  and  its  replacement 
by  the  mere  local  community  of  the  Markgenossenschaft, 
the  mark  community.  In  this  the  families  held  their 
hides  (mansi,  Huferi)  in  common  with  the  other  villagers, 
and  enjoyed  the  use  of  the  allmende,  the  common  pasture 
and  woods,  just  as  in  olden  tunes.  Gradually  private 
property  increased,  especially  by  the  cultivation  of 
forest  and  swamp  lands ;  hereditary  rights,  at  first 
limited  by  the  rights  of  relatives  of  a  rather  remote 
degree,  were  more  and  more  confined  to  direct  de- 
scendants, until  the  right  of  free  disposal  of  property 
was  more  or  less  recognized. 

Soon  we  find  large  holdings  of  land  in  the  hands  of 


xii  THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM  IN  GERMANY  113 

the  great,  who  were  not,  however,  the  descendants  of 
the  old  nobility,  which,  at  least  among  the  Franks, 
with  whom  we  are  most  concerned,  had  perished  in  the 
continuous  strifes  of  conquest.  In  the  interior  of 
Germany,  to  be  sure,  especially  among  the  Saxons, 
the  old  nobility  had  attained  great  power,  but,  as  the 
final  results  of  then1  development  were  the  same  as 
in  the  west,  we  can  leave  these  and  other  varying 
details  out  of  consideration.  In  the  Roman  parts  of 
Gaul  the  most  powerful  of  the  conquerors  took  pos- 
session of  the  large  estates.  Also  the  Church  held 
wide  stretches  of  land  in  undisturbed  possession.  In 
the  purely  German  part  the  inequality  of  landed 
property  was  especially  increased  by  the  rights  attend- 
ing the  clearing  of  land;  the  thrifty  man,  the  man 
with  a  large  family,  and  with  numerous  serfs,  had  an 
immense  advantage  under  the  old  Germanic  law,  by 
which  the  work  of  cultivation  gave  the  right  of  pos- 
session, a  principle  which  is  the  foundation  of  our 
American  Homestead  Law. 

As  in  primitive  times,  the  freeman  was  obliged  to 
perform  military  service  and  to  attend  court,  although 
the  legislative  power  and  part  of  the  judicial  function 
had  fallen  to  the  king.  At  first  the  large  estates  were 
compact  enough  to  be  managed  by  the  proprietor  in 
person  from  his  manor  house;  the  work  was  done  by 
serfs,  as  of  old,  and  many  of  the  latter  had  their  own 
parcel  of  land  to  till.  On  the  Roman  estates  the  new 
proprietors  found  a  graduated  system  of  unfree  tenants. 
The  smaller  freeholder,  seeing  from  the  example  of  his 
more  experienced  neighbors  the  results  of  advanced 
agricultural  industry,  and  stimulated  by  the  exhorta- 
tions of  the  Christian  priests,  had  learned  the  value  of 
work;  he  tilled  the  soil,  slowly  developing  into  the 


114  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

peasant  of  the  well-known  type,  but  for  a  long  time 
not  losing  his  warlike  character;  he  fulfilled,  too,  his 
civil  obligations  in  the  assembly  of  the  hundreds,  per- 
haps of  the  shire  or  Gau,  later  in  the  smaller  districts 
of  the  "tens." 

We  have  seen  that  the  king  exercised  his  rights  and 
attended  to  the  administration  through  his  represen- 
tatives, the  counts.  He  required,  of  course,  a  great 
many  officials  for  these  purposes,  as  well  as  for  those 
of  the  central  government  and  the  royal  court.  The 
necessity  of  compensating  these  officials  under  an 
agrarian  system  is  the  true  origin  of  feudalism,  since 
compensation  in  kind  was  the  only  possible  method  in 
a  period  which  did  not  know  the  use  of  money.  It  is 
true,  the  Germans  had  become  acquainted  with  the 
money  of  the  Romans,  they  even  adopted  it,  and 
Chlodowech  had  already  introduced  the  gold  standard 
of  coinage,  but  as  there  was  no  commerce  worth  men- 
tioning, the  fundamental  condition  for  the  use  of  money 
was  lacking.  The  conquerors  did  not  really  know  what 
to  do  with  it,  except  to  put  it  in  their  treasure  boxes. 
As  for  the  rest,  business  intercourse  was  based  on 
barter,  and  where  money  was  used,  it  took  the  place  of 
the  original  barter  value.  Even  the  strongest  Frankish 
rulers  had  not  succeeded,  in  spite  of  repeated  efforts, 
in  imposing  taxes  on  the  German  section  of  their  sub- 
jects. In  consequence  of  the  general  lowering  of  the 
standard  of  social  life,  the  old  dictum  that  the  con- 
querors accept  the  higher  civilization  of  the  conquered 
was  reversed,  and  with  the  Romance  population  also 
the  economical  system  based  on  money  was  replaced 
by  one  based  on  natural  produce.  The  revenues  of 
the  king  were  derived  from  the  "  King's  Land,"  i.e., 
all  the  lands  that  were  not  distributed  and  not  settled, 


xii  THE   FEUDAL  SYSTEM   IN  GERMANY  115 

as  well  as  from  his  share  in  new  conquests,  and  from 
the  so-called  regalia,  regal  prerogatives,  which,  however, 
for  the  most  part  became  remunerative  only  after  they 
had  slipped  from  the  king's  control.  The  king's 
regalia  were  principally  the  right  of  coinage  and  the 
right  of  levying  tolls  and  customs,  comprising  a  right 
of  supervision  of  those  in  existence  and  the  power  to 
grant  new  privileges  or  to  abolish  old  ones.  Others 
were :  sums  received  from  Jews  and  foreigners  for 
protection;  the  principal  share  of  the  tributes  of  con- 
quered peoples;  the  appointment  to  vacant  prebends; 
the  right  of  higher  chase  and  fishing;  sole  authority 
to  grant  permission  to  erect  fortifications;  the  mining 
rights.  The  king  also  received  frequent  financial  sup- 
port from  the  princes,  and  especially  the  higher  clergy, 
mostly  in  exchange  for  valuable  privileges.  Some  of 
these  prerogatives,  however,  were  created  later;  and 
for  a  long  time  we  hear  of  those  voluntary  donations 
which  in  primitive  times  under  the  name  of  bede  formed 
the  reward  of  the  kings  or  dukes.  The  share  of  all 
fines  and  weregilds,  which  he  had  a  right  to  claim  as 
supreme  judge,  went  mostly  to  his  counts. 

At  first  the  king  was  almost  entirely  confined  to  the 
income  from  his  royal  domains,  which  he  received  in 
the  shape  of  agricultural  products.  The  condition  of 
the  roads,  as  far  as  there  were  any,  made  transporta- 
tion very  difficult,  and  by  water  it  was  extremely  slow. 
Thus  in  order  to  enjoy  the  full  benefit  of  his  estates 
he  was  obliged  to  change  continually  from  one  centre 
of  production  to  another.  This  explains  the  large 
number  of  royal  palaces  (Pfalzeri)  in  different  parts  of 
the  empire. 

This  kind  of  revenue  enabled  him  to  reward  his  im- 
mediate followers,  the  court  officials,  but  it  afforded 


116  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

only  a  very  inconvenient  method  of  paying  his  ad- 
ministrative officers,  especially  his  counts  and  other 
officers,  in  various  parts  of  the  empire.  Therefore,  in 
place  of  our  modern  salaries,  he  assigned  them  certain 
parts  of  his  domain,  the  fruits  of  which  were  to  be 
theirs.  The  counts  naturally  received  such  estates  as 
were  situated  within  their  administrative  districts, 
and  either  because  they  sometimes  held  several  dis- 
tricts under  their  control,  or  for  other  reasons,  their 
lands  were  frequently  not  contiguous. 

Karl  Martel  was  obliged  to  provide  for  his  nobles, 
who  were  unable  to  stand  the  strain  of  the  continued 
warfare  and  the  increased  cost  of  equipment,  with 
horse  and  armor.  The  crown  lands  not  being  suffi- 
cient, he  had  taken  church  property,  a  step  which  lost 
him  the  good-will  of  the  clergy,  including  the  chroni- 
clers. These  donations,  according  to  Germanic  ideas, 
established  a  personal  relation  between  the  donor  and 
the  receiver,  which  imposed  upon  the  latter  the  duty  of 
faithfulness.  The  benefices  which  Karl  Martel  took 
from  the  Church  had  been  of  this  character,  and  it 
became  customary  to  give  them  only  as  a  loan  for  mili- 
tary service ;  but  even  where  a  certain  rent  was  paid, 
these  beneficia  were  always  distinguished  from  the 
precaria,  the  old  Roman  form  of  land  tenancy.  But 
no  matter  what  the  original  form  was,  none  of  these 
lands  were  given  as  free  property,  but  as  a  loan  returnable 
to  the  king  when  the  conditions  under  which  they  had 
been  given  should  come  to  an  end  or  the  term  of  the 
office  with  which  they  were  committed  should  expire. 
From  this  comes  the  German  word  Lehnswesen  (liter- 
ally loan  system)  for  the  feudal  system.  An  oath  of 
fealty  was  connected  with  the  surrender  of  the  fief  and 
was  accompanied  by  symbolical  actions.  The  relation 


xii  THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM   IN  GERMANY  117 

between  the  senior  and  his  vassal  was  that  of  mutual 
obligation.  The  liege-lord  was  expected  to  protect  and 
help  his  vassal,  while  the  vassal  was  pledged  to  service, 
obedience,  and  faithfulness.  This  conception  of  vassal- 
age also  underlay  the  service  of  the  lord  and  of  woman 
in  chivalry. 

Of  course,  the  tendency  of  the  holders  of  the  fiefs 
was  to  keep  a  tenacious  grip  on  them,  to  make  them, 
if  possible,  hereditary,  and  not  seldom  did  they  succeed. 
Since  the  office  was  connected  with  the  estate,  it  natu- 
rally became  hereditary  likewise.  As  soon  as  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  king  became  an  hereditary  office,  the 
functions  of  sovereignty  came  to  appear  not  as  trans- 
ferred by  royal  authority,  but  as  proceeding  from  a 
natural  right.  The  vassals  began  to  feel  like  sovereigns 
on  a  smaller  scale,  and  organized  their  own  adminis- 
trations and  had  their  own  followers  just  as  the  king  had 
his.  The  name  vassal,  is  probably  of  Keltic  origin ; 
the  Germans  use  the  names  Lehnsmann  and  Lehnsherr. 
"Vassal,"  which  originally  signified  the  personal  attend- 
ants of  the  king,  was  later  applied  to  all  who  held  a 
fief,  whether  as  ministerials  or  for  military  services. 
Another  influence  helped  to  make  the  position  of  the 
vassal  still  more  independent.  The  Christian  religion 
of  the  time  was,  as  we  know,  not  a  religion  of  inner 
sanctification  or  of  an  elevation  of  character,  but  was 
superficial  in  its  conception.  For  laymen  and  clergy 
the  human  soul  was,  so  to  speak,  the  object  of  a  con- 
tinuous and  violent  combat  between  good  and  evil 
powers,  without  any  ethical  participation  of  the  will. 
The  important  point  was  therefore  to  increase  the  inter- 
est of  the  good  spirits  in  a  personality  in  order  that 
God,  on  their  mediation,  might  put  forth  all  his  power 
to  defeat  the  devil  and  thus  win  the  soul  for  heaven. 


118  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

But  nobody  was  more  apt  to  influence  God  in  this 
sense  than  the  saints,  who  by  their  merits  had  accu- 
mulated such  a  wealth  of  divine  grace  that  they  had 
more  than  they  needed  for  their  own  salvation,  and 
thereby  had  earned  the  right  to  have  their  prayers 
granted.  The  saints,  therefore,  were  approached  not 
with  prayers  only,  but  also  with  personal  sacrifices, 
with  donations  to  the  Church.  When  the  king  did 
this,  in  order  to  make  his  present  a  truly  royal  one,  he 
resigned  some  of  his  prerogatives  over  the  territories 
donated  and  exempted  them  from  the  jurisdiction  of 
his  officers.  The  proprietor,  i.e.,  the  Church,  became 
the  judiciary  patron  of  the  district,  a  privilege  which 
was  extended  in  time  to  all  the  property  of  the  Church. 
No  royal  official  was  allowed  to  exercise  his  authority 
in  her  territory.  This  privilege,  called  immunity,  did 
not  remain  confined  to  the  Church ;  the  great  vassals 
thought  it  but  fair  that  it  should  be  extended  to  them, 
and,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  they  soon  obtained  it. 
To  anticipate  the  gradual  waning  of  the  sovereign  power, 
due  to  the  king's  own  action,  I  may  add  here  that  later, 
when  no  King's  Land  was  left  to  give  away,  and  the 
actual  power  of  the  king  over  his  vassals  had  practically 
disappeared,  the  royal  prerogatives,  the  regalia,  were 
one  by  one  given  away  simply  to  secure  the  good-will  of 
the  vassals  for  the  election  of  the  king  or  other  political 
purposes,  or  to  secure  financial  assistance,  especially 
from  the  Church  and  the  cities.  The  example  of  the 
king  was  followed  by  his  vassals,  who  gave  away  parts 
of  their  vast  possessions  as  fiefs  to  their  trusted  followers, 
while  the  latter  apportioned  them  in  their  turn,  until  in 
time  a  whole  system  of  subordinated  vassals,  in  seven 
grades,  had  developed. 
The  increase  of  large  landholdings  had  made  living 


xn  THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM   IN  GERMANY  119 

conditions  unfavorable  for  the  freeman  who  owned  only 
one  or  a  few  hides ;  the  frequency  of  wars  and  the 
greater  cost  of  equipment,  especially  when  the  horse 
became  indispensable  in  warfare,  made  the  duty  of 
military  service  an  unbearable  burden.  Likewise  the 
duty  of  court  attendance  called  the  peasant  away  from 
his  work,  with  consequent  loss  to  him  in  the  manage- 
ment of  his  farm.  If  he  failed  in  a  contest  with  the  law, 
the  fines  imposed  were  altogether  too  high  in  proportion 
to  his  means.  The  count,  who  as  military  leader  of  his 
district  had  the  right  to  call  the  freemen  to  arms,  did  his 
best  to  make  the  life  of  the  small  freeholder  as  miserable 
as  possible,  by  frequent  requisitions  for  service  in  the 
army  and  in  court,  under  penalty  of  heavy  fines.  The 
working  of  the  estates  from  the  lord's  manor  had,  in 
time,  become  impossible,  and  the  serfs  had  changed 
gradually  into  tenants,  who  in  return  for  personal 
service  at  the  manor  and  the  payment  of  a  small  share 
of  their  products,  cultivated  their  lands  for  their  own 
benefit.  They  still  remained  unfree,  however,  and  were 
the  property  of  their  master,  "  attached  to  the  soil." 
Out  of  their  number  the  lord  took  his  personal  attend- 
ants, his  ministerials,  who  frequently  attained  high 
honors,  and  from  whom  in  time  a  new  nobility  developed. 
Such  unfree  men,  or  leudes,  if  successful,  had  thus  a  more 
comfortable  life,  more  influence,  and  a  higher  social 
rank  than  a  small  freeman.  The  extension  of  the  lands 
and  their  scattered  location  had  necessitated  the  estab- 
lishment of  plural  administrative  centres,  where  the 
products  representing  the  rental  could  be  conveniently 
delivered,  and  where  supervision  could  be  made  more 
effectual.  A  steward,  German  Meier,  was  appointed, 
and  his  farm  (the  Meierhof)  was  usually  located  in  the 
centre  of  the  district.  Such  law  as  the  lord  had  estab- 


120  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

lished  under  the  " immunity"  was  administered  by  the 
steward,  important  cases  being  reserved  for  the  lord  of 
the  manor,  just  as  a  very  few  cases  had  still  been  kept 
under  the  king's  jurisdiction.  The  common  manage- 
ment of  the  large  holdings  made  possible  a  much  more 
intensive  application  of  improved  agricultural  methods, 
and  the  lord's  villains  had  consequently  a  great  advan- 
tage over  the  small  freeman.  As  holder  of  a  number  of 
hides  the  lord,  of  course,  had  a  right  to  the  use  of  the 
commons,  upon  which  he  had  already  greatly  en- 
croached by  clearings,  and  soon  the  freeman's  old  rights 
were  regarded  rather  as  a  charge  on  the  overlord's 
estates  than  a  fundamental  title. 

There  were  thus  many  reasons  why  the  small  free- 
holder should  envy  the  villain  who  lived  in  the  im- 
munities, who  had  no  burdens  of  military  and  court 
service,  and  who  seemed  more  prosperous  and  more 
respected,  with  greater  prospects  of  improving  his 
condition;  this  was  even  more  the  case  when  his 
manorial  lord  was  the  Church,  a  bishop  or  abbot,  who 
treated  their  tenants  so  well  that  the  saying,  "  There  is 
good  living  under  the  crozier"  (Unterm  Krummstdb 
ist  gut  leberi),  gained  the  strength  of  a  proverb.  The 
result  was  that  the  freemen  began  to  give  up  their 
liberty,  surrendered  their  property  to  the  manorial  lord, 
and  received  it  back  as  a  fief  or  benefice.  The  Church 
especially  received  many  vassals  in  this  manner,  as  it 
offered  in  turn,  besides  the  advantages  just  mentioned, 
the  powerful  patronage  of  the  saints,  a  ticket  of  admis- 
sion to  heaven,  as  it  were.  The  act  of  giving  up 
property  and  recommending  one's  self  to  the  protection 
of  the  lord  or  of  the  Church  was  called  commendation, 
a  term  taken  from  Roman  law  (German  Hulde). 
This,  of  course,  had  its  outward  symbolic  expression, 


xii  THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM  IN  GERMANY  121 

the  giver  laying  both  hands  in  those  of  his  future  liege- 
lord.  Then  he  received  his  property  back  as  a  benefice, 
symbolized  by  a  tuft  of  grass  or  a  handful  of  soil.  Later 
in  the  times  of  chivalry,  when  the  military  character 
of  the  vassalage  became  more  emphasized,  the  vassal 
received  a  flag  or  a  shield  and  spear,  or,  if  he  belonged  to 
the  clergy,  a  ring  and  crozier.  At  first  the  freeborn  did 
not  lose  their  liberty,  but,  as  the  different  kinds  of  serfs 
and  other  unfree  tenants  were  assimilated,  they  received 
the  former  into  their  ranks,  forming  at  last  the  new 
peasant  class  of  the  Grundholden,  which  we  may  trans- 
late with  "yeomen"  or  "  villains."  This  change  in  the 
character  of  the  freeholders,  who,  we  must  remember, 
had  been  the  preservers  of  legal  tradition,  was  of  great 
importance  in  the  development  of  peasant  rights, 
securing  continuity  between  the  old  and  the  new 
peasantry.  Although  unfree,  their  relations  to  their 
lord,  or  more  directly  to  his  steward,  yet  became  legally 
settled,  and  a  great  deal  of  the  old  popular  law  was 
preserved  in  these  Hofrechte  or  manorial  statutes, 
which  were  expressed  in  symbolical  language,  as  of  old. 
In  tune,  however,  the  legal  practice  of  these  courts 
came  to  be  written  down  in  collections  of  then-  decisions, 
called  Weistumer,  perhaps  best  translated  by  rules 
from  precedent,  which,  like  similar  collections  of  munici- 
pal decisions,  contain  many  pure  traditions  of  German 
justice.  (A comparison  to  the  origin  of  the  English  Com- 
mon Law  is  obvious.)  Under  these  conditions  was 
formed  the  new  peasantry,  the  old  institution  of  serf- 
dom remaining  for  centuries  a  legal  fiction,  which  was 
to  be  revived  again  under  more  unfavorable  economical 
conditions. 

It  may  be  stated  here  that,  however  dependent  the 
serfs  (die  Horigen)   became   in   time,   and  how  much 


122  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

they  were  destined  to  suffer  in  years  to  come  from 
tyrannical  lords,  the  institution  of  slavery  disappeared 
very  early  in  mediaeval  times.  The  need  of  a  working 
proletariat  for  gross  production  had  become  very  much 
less  pressing  than  in  the  ancient  world,  for,  in  spite  of  all 
complaints  regarding  the  retrogression  of  civilization 
following  the  invasion  of  the  northern  barbarians,  the 
new  order  of  things  included  an  extensive  increase  of 
technical  appliances,  such  as  chainworks,  watermills, 
etc.,  of  which,  although  invented  in  Roman  times,  the 
economical  importance  had  not  been  recognized.  These 
had  now  come  into  general  use,  and  liberated  a  great 
amount  of  human  labor  of  that  very  kind  which  had 
been  performed  by  the  slaves  of  antiquity. 

In  tune  the  feudal  system  embraced  almost  all  the 
land,  although  in  some  parts  of  Germany  the  sturdy 
freemen  maintained  their  liberty  and  their  old  consti- 
tution, especially  in  the  border  regions  of  the  Alps  and 
of  Friesland,  and  on  the  isolated  farms  in  Westphalia, 
Alsace,  Suabia,  the  Mosel  country,  and  the  Wetterau. 
The  rest  of  the  country  was  in  the  hands  of  vassals. 
But  the  principle  that  every  man  must  be  the  vassal  of 
somebody  did  not  become  so  absolute  a  rule  in  Germany 
as  elsewhere.  The  fact  that  the  great  vassals  held  their 
offices  by  appointment  was  forgotten,  and  their  connec- 
tion with  the  king  became  purely  ethical ;  they  were 
bound  to  him  by  their  oath  of  fealty.  The  pyramid  of 
vassalage  left  finally  as  the  immediate  vassals  of  the 
king  (as  the  vorderest  empfaher,  Fiirsten)  only  sixteen 
grandees  besides  the  high  ecclesiastical  dignitaries. 
The  old  tribal  dukes  took  a  prominent  place.  While  the 
king  was  forced  to  lead  a  roving  life  among  his  various 
estates  and  to  make  frequent  visits  to  Italy,  his  vassals 
stayed  in  immediate  contact  with  their  dependencies; 


xii  THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM  IN  GERMANY  123 

as  the  king's  control  waned,  their  power  increased. 
For  a  time  it  looked  even  as  if  the  country  might  be 
divided  into  a  northern  and  a  southern  empire.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  lower  vassals  obtained  a  comparatively 
high  degree  of  independence. 

The  head  of  the  pyramid  was  the  king ;  the  Emperor, 
indeed,  claimed  theoretically  to  be  the  highest  liege- 
lord  over  the  kings  of  Europe,  although  this  claim  was 
strongly  disputed  by  the  Pope.  Practically  the  Em- 
peror's rights  were  acknowledged  only  where  he  ruled 
as  king,  although  it  appeared  under  some  strong  and 
ambitious  emperors  as  if  the  ideal  of  the  universal 
empire  might  still  be  realized.  The  conflicting  claims 
of  the  spiritual  and  temporal  rulers  led  to  a  long  and 
embittered  contest,  which  we  shall  have  to  consider  later. 

The  king  under  the  feudal  system  really  ruled  only 
through  his  vassals.  The  only  way  for  him  to  increase 
his  power  was  to  enfeoff  the  members  of  his  own  family, 
especially  his  heir,  with  fiefs  which  had  become  vacant 
by  the  extinction  of  a  family,  by  forfeiture,  or  by  a 
breach  of  fealty.  Strong  rulers  used  these  oppor- 
tunities to  break  the  overwhelming  strength  of  the 
tribal  duchies  by  dividing  them.  The  kingdom  never 
was  theoretically  hereditary  in  Germany,  but  most 
emperors  succeeded  in  having  their  sons  elected  as 
successors  having  homage  sworn  to  them  during  their 
lifetime.  The  vassals  were  the  leaders  of  their  mili- 
tary contingents  when  the  army  was  called  out  for 
war,  each  contingent  being  composed  of  those  of  the 
lower  vassals.  The  organization,  though  based  on  the 
tenure  of  land,  was  in  reality  military ;  the  feudal  lord 
paid  the  expenses  of  equipment ;  each  of  the  seven 
grades  of  vassalage  was  called  Heerschild.  It  was  the 
fact  that  the  freeman  had  to  accept  his  equipment  of 


124  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION     CHAP,  xn 

armor  and  horse  from  the  liege-lord  or  else  withdraw 
from  military  service  altogether,  which  lost  him  the 
privileges  of  freedom. 

In  considering  the  main  features  of  the  German 
feudal  system  as  I  have  tried  to  describe  them,  it  must 
not  be  thought  that  they  were  in  reality  so  simple  or 
that  historical  investigations  agree  on  all  points.  There 
were  variations  and  complications,  and  it  took  centuries 
for  all  the  typical  features  to  develop,  including  as  the 
final  step  the  hereditary  right  of  the  vassal  to  his  fief 
and  the  obligation  of  the  liege-lord  to  enfeoff  another 
vassal  immediately  after  the  fief  had  become  vacant. 
Just  as  the  territories  of  the  feudal  lords  were  not 
continuous,  but  were  intermixed  in  a  most  confusing 
manner,  so  were  the  legal  competencies  of  the  different 
ruling  powers ;  and  often  the  common  man  was  at  a  loss, 
between  the  royal,  the  ecclesiastical,  and  the  different 
feudal  authorities,  which  master  to  obey.  If  we  add 
to  this  the  right  of  private  war,  das  Fehderecht,  which 
entitled  anybody  to  settle  by  force  of  arms  all  real  or 
supposed  injuries  inflicted  outside  of  his  own  judicial 
circle,  we  can  understand  that  at  tunes  conditions  came 
very  close  to  anarchy.  But  on  the  whole  we  must  see 
in  the  feudal  system  the  transitions  from  the  commu- 
nistic economy  of  primitive  times  to  the  private  property 
of  to-day. 

Alongside  of  the  feudal  system,  which  in  Germany 
never  became  identical  with  the  legal  or  constitutional 
system  of  the  state,  and  did  not  include  all  landed 
property,  a  new  classification  of  the  freemen  had  devel- 
oped, which  divided  them  into  three  classes,  as  well  as 
subdivisions  of  the  unfree.  There  were  transitions 
and  crossings  between  the  different  classes,  nor  was  the 
distinction  from  the  feudal  grades  always  very  sharp. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE    MONASTEKIES 

Education  and  Literature  in  the  Earlier  Middle  Ages 

IN  those  early  restless  times  the  protection  of  the 
Church  and  the  peace  of  the  monasteries,  although  not 
entirely  removed  from  mundane  troubles,  offered  a 
refuge  to  many.  Monks  had  been  the  first  missionaries 
to  the  German ;  in  the  midst  of  the  heathen  popula- 
tion they  had  built  their  settlements.  The  first  to 
arrive  were  Columba  and  his  companions,  who  had 
come  from  Ireland  to  introduce  their  stricter  rule  of 
monastic  life  into  the  somewhat  worldly  monasteries 
of  Prankish  Gaul.  Columba,  indeed,  gave  only  rather 
incidental  attention  to  the  conversion  of  the  heathen, 
as  he  crossed  the  country  of  the  Alamans  on  his  way  to 
Italy.  His  disciple  Gallus  remained  behind  and 
founded  the  monastery  which,  under  the  name  of  St. 
Gallen,  was  destined  to  become  for  a  long  tune  the 
most  famous  seat  of  German  learning.  Much  more  effi- 
cient was  the  work  of  St.  Boniface,  the  "apostle  of  the 
Germans,"  and  the  English  missionaries  who  followed 
him.  His  remains  are  buried  in  the  cathedral  of  Fulda, 
where  he  had  founded  his  most  important  monastery 
on  a  site  which  at  that  time  must  have  been  regarded  as 
an  outpost  of  civilization.  The  tomb  at  Fulda  is  to-day 
perhaps  the  most  sacred  spot  for  Catholic  Germany. 
The  bishops  meet  there  for  important  deliberations 

125 


126  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

and  the  spirit  of  the  English  monk  who  bound  Germany 
to  the  Roman  pontifex  appears  still  powerful ;  many  a 
manly  resolution  to  break  this  bond,  which  was  felt  as 
a  heavy  chain,  has  in  the  end  proved  futile. 

The  monasteries  rapidly  increased  and  in  a  com- 
paratively short  time  numbered  over  a  hundred. 
They  received  immense  tracts  of  land  from  their 
founders.  There  was,  however,  sometimes  a  distinctly 
economical  side  to  this  liberality;  as  soon  as  it  was 
seen  that  the  monks  were  great  cultivators,  large  tracts 
of  wild  lands  were  granted  to  them,  often  in  exchange 
for  smaller  areas  which  they  had  cultivated  with  the 
plough.  We  have  already  spoken  of  other  causes  for  the 
rapid  increase  of  their  landed  property ;  in  this  period  of 
agrarian  economy,  too,  the  monks  as  the  holders  of  an 
unusual  amount  of  cash  money  were  able  to  buy  lands 
on  their  own  account.  As  the  cathedral  schools  never 
gained  any  lasting  influence,  in  spite  of  a  few  apparent 
exceptions,  the  bishops  were  mostly  educated  in  the 
monastery  schools  and  were  usually  themselves  monks. 
Thus  everything  combined  to  increase  the  power  of 
monachism,  to  extend  its  influence  in  all  directions, 
among  the  masses  as  well  as  in  the  highest  places. 

The  monks  were  the  protectors  of  the  poor ;  hundreds 
of  beggars  were  fed  and  clothed  in  the  gateways  of  the 
monasteries,  the  inmates  of  which  were  the  physicians 
and  the  nurses  of  the  sick,  and  in  many  other  respects 
showed,  even  in  an  age  of  worldliness  and  decay,  that 
Christian  charity  was  for  them  not  a  matter  of  words 
and  sermons  only.  For  this  reason  their  preaching  of 
the  gospel  of  pity  had  a  great  effect  and  the  public 
showed  a  readiness  to  help  the  poor  and  needy  by  dona- 
tions and  active  assistance,  an  assistance  involving 
personal  effort  and  work,  even  disagreeable  work  fre- 


xin  THE  MONASTERIES  127 

quently,  which  perhaps  has  never  been  equalled. 
Whether  this  breeding  of  beggars  in  the  name  of  God, 
this  fostering  of  dependence  on  others,  was  an  advan- 
tage to  the  healthy  development  of  the  nation  may 
appear  doubtful  to  the  modern  thinker  —  but  some- 
how it  seems  in  keeping  with  that  tune.  It  was  a  part 
of  the  taming  of  the  German  spirit,  a  part  of  the  lesson 
in  self-control,  which  was  needed  to  make  it  fit  for  the 
higher  culture  still  to  come.  It  was  this  active  side  of 
Christian  devotion  and  the  honorable  position  of  labor 
which  was  the  principal  and  most  important  lesson 
taught  by  the  monks.  This,  in  connection  with  the 
vigorous  health  of  the  youthful  Germanic  race,  pre- 
vented an  undue  asceticism,  which  under  the  guise  of  a 
needed  monastic  reform  swept  over  Europe  from  time 
to  tune,  and  among  the  Romance  nations,  especially  in 
Italy,  approached  its  Oriental  model.  Germany  did  in 
truth  have  some  examples  of  this  loathsome  form  of 
religious  insanity,  of  women  who  were  so  pious  that 
they  allowed  themselves  literally  to  be  devoured  by 
vermin  and  who,  if  one  of  their  little  tormentors  fell 
off,  put  it  back  on  their  bodies  with  their  own  hands 
in  the  belief  that  this  would  please  God.  But  as  a  rule 
in  Germany  the  ascetic  tendencies  worked  themselves 
out  in  hard,  menial  labor  and  a  desire  for  solitude. 
The  male  hermit  usually  withdrew  into  the  forest,  the 
old  friend  of  the  Germans,  and  there,  in  immediate 
contact  with  nature,  sought  and  often  found  the  mystic 
unity  with  God.  When  the  ascendency  of  asceticism 
had  changed  the  attitude  of  the  Church  towards  labor 
as  being  a  means  to  worldly,  i.e.,  sinful,  ends,  fortunately 
the  education  of  the  people  had  endured  long  enough 
to  become  effective ;  especially  in  the  cities  new  centres 
of  industrious  activity  had  arisen. 


128  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

It  was  a  curious  age,  an  age  of  contrasts,  of  powerful 
and  unusual  emotions  —  perhaps  the  disturbed  surface 
was  only  the  reflex  of  the  revolution  within.  For  in 
this  period,  the  centuries  about  the  year  1000,  took 
place  the  real  conversion  of  the  Germans  to  Chris- 
tianity. The  new  religion  was  now  strong  enough  to 
be  conceived  in  its  true  character,  not  as  a  disguised 
paganism,  although  how  much  of  the  latter  has  uncon- 
sciously survived  does  not  need  to  be  pointed  out. 

In  those  times  the  Christian  spirit  showed  itself  in 
humility  and  exaggerated  modesty.  Tears  were  shed 
on  every  occasion  and  public  self-abasement  was 
common.  No  bishop  was  elected  without  first  refusing 
to  accept  the  dignity  and  actually  fleeing  to  hide  his 
unworthmess,  until  at  last,  under  an  almost  hysterical 
stream  of  tears,  he  allowed  himself  to  be  invested  with 
the  emblems  of  his  office.  It  would  have  been  disgrace- 
ful had  the  Emperor  not  wept  profusely  at  his  corona- 
tion. It  is  claimed  that  from  this  period  date  most 
of  those  forms  of  present  social  intercourse  which  are 
characterized  by  a  show  of  modesty,  and  this  may  be 
partly  true. 

Not  only  in  the  resistance  to  the  ascetic  habits  of 
their  Romance  brethren  did  the  German  monks  show 
their  national  character,  but  also  hi  other  matters. 
They  would  not  submit  to  that  centralization  of  the 
so-called  Reform  monasteries  of  France  and  Italy 
which  made  them  such  powerful  instruments  of  the 
Church  in  the  fight  for  the  rule  of  the  world,  which  was 
fought  under  the  disguise  of  the  Christian  spirit  against 
worldliness,  of  heaven  against  earth,  of  death  against  life. 
A  healthy  German  of  the  present  day  shivers  when  he 
reads  that  life  was  so  hateful  to  the  pious  people  of  that 
tune  that  they  could  not  endure  even  the  appearance 


xiii  THE   MONASTERIES  129 

of  health  and  used  to  bleed  themselves  in  order  to  look 
sickly,  which  for  them  meant  "  spiritual !"  There  will 
be  occasion  to  return  to  this  subject  in  a  later  chapter. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  monastery 
schools.  They  were  in  the  main  preparatory  schools 
for  the  clergy  or  for  the  religious  orders ;  it  was  cus- 
tomary for  pious  parents  to  offer  one  or  more  of 
their  children  to  God.  These  pueri  oblati,  who  were 
surrendered  to  the  cloister  at  a  very  tender  age,  were 
educated  in  the  so-called  seven  liberal  arts  and  had  to 
learn  to  read  and  write  Latin  before  they  learned  to  do 
so  in  their  mother  tongue,  if,  indeed,  for  the  period 
following  the  ninth  century  at  least,  they  were  al- 
lowed to  learn  the  latter  at  all,  which  is  very  doubtful. 
A  similar  training  was  given  to  the  sons  of  noble  patrons 
of  the  monastery,  who  were  not  intended  for  a  clerical 
career.  The  education  of  the  common  people  was  not 
within  the  scope  of  monastic  ambition,  nor  were  the 
efforts  which  were  made  by  Charles  the  Great  very 
serious  or  lasting.  The  education  of  the  daughters  of 
noble  families  seems  to  have  been  intrusted  to  numerous 
convents,  the  principal  purpose  of  which  was  apparently 
to  offer  a  home  to  women  of  the  nobility  who  remained 
unmarried  or  wished  to  spend  their  widowhood  in  seclu- 
sion. 

We  read  a  great  deal  about  the  scholarship  of  the 
monks  and  nuns,  and  are  taught  that  we  owe  them  an 
immense  debt  of  gratitude  for  the  preservation  of 
classical  literature.  There  undoubtedly  were  a  great 
many  monks  of  scholarly  achievements,  like  Hrabanus 
Maurus  of  Mainz,  and  Fulda,  who  was  honored  with  the 
title  of  prceceptor  Germanice,  teacher  of  Germany,  or 
Walafrid  Strabo  of  Reichenau,  or  a  great  number  of 
monks  of  St.  Gallen,  and,  to  mention,  at  least  one  nun, 


130  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

Hrosvith  of  Gandersheim,  who  deserve  a  place  of  honor 
even  from  a  modern  point  of  view,  but  must  it  not  be 
said  in  justice  that  they  were  exceptions?  that  the 
interest  in  really  scholarly  work  was  not  lasting  and 
that  it  was  confined  to  a  few  monasteries  only  ?  Where 
it  was  not  superseded  by  sensual  barbarism,  it  took  a 
one-sided  theological  turn  of  little  originality,  often 
confined  to  senseless  copying.  A  hostile  attitude 
towards  classical  literature  was  the  rule,  which  was  the 
same  spirit  that  caused  Bishop  Theophilus  to  destroy 
the  invaluable  library  at  Alexandria,  a  deed  with  which 
a  pious  fraud  has  burdened  the  Mohammedans. 

Under  the  influence  of  Otto  the  Great  and  his  wife, 
the  Greek  princess  Theophano,  there  was  another 
renaissance  of  classicism  of  even  less  importance  than 
that  inaugurated  by  Charles  the  Great.  Scon  hos- 
tility to  pagan  writers,  ignorance,  and  indifference 
again  held  sway.  Whatever  was  preserved  was  done 
so  against  the  will  of  the  Church  authorities,  and  what- 
ever was  done  by  individual  monks  was  done  against 
the  spirit  of  their  order.  Does  a  ward  owe  thanks  to  a 
guardian  who  on  his  coming  of  age  turns  over  to  him 
only  a  small  remainder  of  his  fortune?  Should  he 
praise  him  because  he  did  not  squander  all  ?  But  this 
is  exactly  the  position  of  monasticism  in  relation  to 
classical  antiquity.  Its  most  important  part,  the  litera- 
ture of  the  Greeks,  which  in  Constantinople  and  the 
Eastern  Empire  was  accessible  throughout  the  greater 
part  of  the  Middle  Ages,  was  entirely  neglected,  al- 
though attention  had  been  called  to  it  during  the 
Crusades  and  the  reigns  of  those  emperors  who  were 
more  closely  connected  with  the  Greek  imperial  family. 
The  valuable  manuscripts  were  destroyed  by  the  monks, 
not,  as  we  are  taught  to  believe,  by  the  barbarians  of 


xiii  THE  MONASTERIES  131 

the  Great  Migrations,  who,  on  the  contrary,  showed 
the  greatest  respect  for  the  relics  of  antiquity.  The 
monks  even  scraped  off  the  writing  from  the  parch- 
ments in  order  to  use  the  sheets  for  their  insipid  copy- 
ing. In  that  famous  nursery  of  intellectual  life,  the 
monastery  of  St.  Gallen,  where,  by  the  way,  in  the 
height  of  mediaeval  times  neither  the  abbot  nor  any 
of  the  monks  were  able  to  write,  Poggio,  the  great 
Italian  humanist,  found  a  most  valuable  unique  manu- 
script used  as  a  padding  for  a  wine  barrel.  That  does 
not  quite  agree  with  the  praises  of  the  mediaeval 
monasteries  as  the  homes  and  preservers  of  classical 
education.  It  is  not  their  merit  that  the  products  of 
the  Greek  and  Latin  genius  did  not  disappear  entirely 
from  the  face  of  the  earth,  just  as  they  succeeded  in 
destroying  the  heroic  songs  of  the  Germans.  More 
than  ever,  the  German  of  to-day  misses  those  testi- 
monies of  the  true  character  of  his  ancestors,  the  begin- 
nings of  his  national  literature.  As  long  as  the  priests 
were  not  certain  of  their  new  converts,  they  were  com- 
pelled to  use  the  language  of  the  latter  as  a  means  of 
making  the  heathen  understand  their  message.  Thus 
at  the  beginning  of  Germanic  literature  we  have  the 
translation  of  the  Bible  by  Ulfilas  the  Goth,  although 
we  must  not  forget  that  Ulfilas  was  not  of  Gothic 
descent,  but  came  from  a  race  which  for  centuries  had 
enjoyed  the  highest  intellectual  culture.  He  found, 
however,  a  language  almost  ready  for  his  use,  a  lan- 
guage which  shows  a  wealth  and  beauty,  a  pliability 
which  makes  us  imagine  what  a  pleasure  it  must  have 
been  to  listen  to  the  songs  recited  by  the  shop  in 
the  halls  of  the  great,  when,  in  distinction  to  the  gospel 
translation,  subject-matter  and  language  were  the 
outcome  of  the  same  national  spirit. 


132          HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION    CHAP,  xin 

When,  five  centuries  after  Ulfilas,  the  spirit  of  intol- 
erance had  gained  supremacy,  the  national  language 
was  contemptuously  called  the  language  of  the  mob. 
Whatever  there  was  of  secular  poetry  was  ruthlessly 
destroyed,  so  that  only  scant  fragments  escaped. 
Literature  became  Latinized,  but  this  language  did  not 
lend  itself  willingly  to  the  German  mind,  and  with  a 
few  exceptions,  soon  degenerated,  as  it  is  correctly  said, 
into  a  mere  stammering.  The  poetry  consisted  princi- 
pally of  hymns  in  endless  repetition  of  the  same  thought. 
Here  and  there  other  subjects  were  treated,  usually 
with  a  moral  point  in  view,  as  the  plays  of  Hrosvith  of 
Gandersheim.  Like  an  oasis  in  a  desert  is  the  "  Wal- 
thariliet "  by  Ekkehard,  which,  though  written  in 
Latin,  is  a  German  poem. 

Little  as  can  be  found  to  praise  on  the  literary  side 
of  the  monks'  life,  it  would  be  unjust  to  forget  their 
services  to  history.  Their  annals  and  chronicles  are  val- 
uable, not  only  as  our  principal  source  of  knowledge  for 
that  period,  but  in  many  cases  for  then-  literary  merit. 

When  the  monks  discovered  that  they  could  not 
succeed  in  stamping  out  the  German  language  and  the 
spirit  it  stood  for,  —  most  of  them  were  German  at 
heart  themselves,  —  when  in  spite  of  their  efforts  the 
people  preferred  to  listen  to  the  vagrants'  German 
songs  than  to  their  Latin  hymns,  they  abandoned  their 
degenerated  Latin,  almost  unfit  for  a  vehicle  of  thought, 
and  returned  to  the  vernacular;  but  they  never  suc- 
ceeded in  outrivalling  secular  literature. 

Although  the  monasteries  failed  in  this  one  respect, 
they  well  filled  their  place  as  a  factor  of  advancing 
civilization,  especially  in  those  fields  where  the  scholas- 
tic and  ascetic  spirit  could  not  subdue  the  energy  of 
the  vigorous  life  of  the  Germans,  such  as  agriculture  and 
the  beginnings  of  industry  and  art. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

EMPEROR   AND   POPE 

IN  the  last  chapter  it  was  pointed  out  that  the  change 
in  the  German  soul  from  paganism  to  true  Christian 
piety  took  place  in  a  period  of  great  unrest ;  the  inner 
revolution  was  accompanied  by  outer  convulsions  and 
disturbances.  One  of  the  disturbing  elements  was  the 
spirit  of  asceticism,  which,  while  having  naturally 
an  immediate  influence  on  the  shaping  of  the  general 
aspects  of  life,  was  one  of  the  causes  of  two  important 
movements,  to  wit,  the  Crusades  and  the  great  conflict 
between  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor.  I  say  one  of  the 
causes,  for  how  much  more  complex  must  be  the  factors 
which  govern  the  life  of  the  national  soul  than  those 
which  decide  individual  actions ;  how  shallow  a  depth 
have  we  reached  so  far  in  the  investigation  of  either ! 
At  what  a  disadvantage  are  we  in  trying  to  express  our 
observations  in  language,  being  obliged  to  enumerate 
individually  and  successively  what  in  reality  is  simul- 
taneous and  combined  action,  energized  by  mutual 
influences ! 

As  we  speak  of  the  combat  between  priest  and  king 
there  comes  to  our  mind  the  tradition  of  its  most  dra- 
matic moment,  that  Christmas  of  1076  when  the  king 
of  the  Germans,  accompanied  by  his  faithful  wife  and 
clad  in  the  rough  garb  of  the  penitent,  braved  the  frosts 
and  storms  of  the  Alpine  winter,  and  after  a  month's 
travel,  reached  the  castle  gate  of  Canossa,  which  was  to 

133 


134  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

be  opened  to  him  only  after  he  had  stood  barefoot  hi 
snow  and  ice  for  three  days,  while  in  his  soul  raged 
storms  it  must  have  taken  a  superhuman  effort  to  con- 
trol. It  was  just  700  years  before  the  battle  of  Trenton, 
that  Christmas,  —  a  rather  long  time  for  American 
memories,  but  a  very  real  thing  for  the  Germans,  who, 
as  children,  have  listened  with  throbbing  pulses  to 
Heine's  thrilling  poem,  who  have  found  that  the  pledge 
of  their  greatest  statesman,  "To  Canossa  we  shall  not 
go,"  was  nothing  but  an  empty  boast,  and  who  see  their 
fatherland  day  by  day  torn  hi  two  by  the  same  old 
fight. 

At  about  the  same  time  that  protection  was  given  by 
the  Frankish  ministers  of  the  palace,  especially  by 
Pippin,  the  first  Karling  king,  to  the  Roman  bishops 
in  the  possession  of  the  land  which  by  forgery  had  been 
claimed  as  the  dominion  of  St.  Peter,  Boniface  placed 
the  newly  converted  Germans  under  the  supreme  rule 
of  the  bishops  of  Rome.  The  clergy  of  ancient  Gaul, 
however,  whose  Christianity  was  a  great  deal  older  and 
more  far-seeing  than  that  of  the  kings  with  whom  it 
was  only  skin  deep,  prevented  the  full  consequences  of 
Boniface's  act  from  taking  effect.  It  was  probably  the 
opposition  of  the  western  Frankish  Church  which  caused 
Boniface  to  resign  his  Archiepiscopal  See  at  Mainz  and, 
in  his  old  age,  to  return  to  his  missionary  work,  which 
ended  in  his  death  as  a  martyr  among  the  Frisians. 

The  Frankish  kings,  while  considering  themselves  the 
protectors  of  the  Church,  by  no  means  concluded  from 
this  that  they  were  to  be  the  servants  of  the  clergy; 
on  the  contrary,  they  acted  as  the  highest  lords  of  the 
Church,  not  alone  in  worldly  matters,  but  also  in  ques- 
tions of  doctrine.  Charles  the  Great  was  recognized  as 
the  judge  before  whom  the  accused  Pope  Leo  III  — 


xiv  EMPEROR  AND  POPE  135 

the  same  one  who  afterwards  placed  the  imperial  crown 
on  his  head  —  had  to  plead  and  by  whom  he  was 
acquitted.  Otto  I  made  the  Romans  swear  never  to 
elect  a  Pope  without  the  consent  of  the  king  of  the  Ger- 
mans. Numerous  are  the  evidences  which  prove  that 
every  strong  Emperor  claimed  and  held  the  highest 
power  over  the  Church  and  was  considered  the  lieg- 
lord  of  the  secular  possessions  of  the  Pope ;  even  Greg- 
ory VII,  with  whom  originated  the  modern  Catholic 
conception  of  the  papacy,  asked  Henry  IV  for  confir- 
mation of  his  appointment,  which  was  quite  contrary  to 
his  later  claims.  If  the  king  had  such  power  over  the 
Pope,  it  is  clear  that  his  rule  over  the  national  clergy  was 
undisputed.  Still,  whenever  the  character  of  the  king 
was  less  strong,  and  when  he  showed  himself  especially 
accessible  to  the  spiritual  influences  of  the  Church,  the 
clergy  made  immediate  use  of  his  weakness  to  increase 
their  power. 

Thus,  in  reality  we  must  consider  three  parties  hi  the 
struggle  between  the  secular  and  ecclesiastical  power; 
besides  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor  there  were  the  bishops 
and  the  clergy.  The  submission  of  the  Pope  to  the 
Emperor  was  due  to  the  weak  hold  he  had  on  the  clergy 
and  the  protection  he  needed  against  political  foes,  not 
only  foreign  conquerors,  like  the  Lombards,  Saracens, 
and  Normans,  but  also  against  the  inhabitants  of  Rome. 
Furthermore,  the  more  religion  in  its  true  sense  took 
hold  of  the  people,  the  less  did  the  authority  of  the  popes 
find  recognition,  since  then-  moral  standing  had  sunk  as 
low,  lower,  perhaps,  than  when  the  visit  of  the  German 
monk  Luther  helped  to  bring  about  the  Reformation. 
Again  and  again  the  serious  religious  conceptions  of  the 
Germans  and  the  strong  hand  of  their  kings  had  saved 
the  Church  from  the  moral  depravity  of  its  rulers  and 


136  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

had  placed  on  the  Papal  See  men  worthy  of  the 
office. 

While  in  reality  the  clergy  allowed  the  Pope  to  inter- 
fere with  them  very  little,  they  found  it  to  their  advan- 
tage in  establishing  their  power  over  the  laymen  to 
claim  that  only  the  Pope  had  jurisdiction  over  them 
and  that  complaints  must  be  brought  before  him.  The 
Pope  was  far  away,  and  the  whole  mode  of  procedure 
was  such  as  to  make  a  suit  practically  impossible ;  in 
most  cases  sixty  or  even  eighty  witnesses  were  required, 
all  of  whom  had  to  have  wives  and  children.  These 
claims  were  based  on  the  so-called  pseudo-Isidorian 
decretals,  one  of  the  boldest  forgeries  ever  perpetrated 
and  perhaps  the  most  far-reaching  in  its  consequences. 

The  causes  which  increased  the  worldly  possessions 
of  the  Church  have  repeatedly  been  pointed  out  in 
these  pages;  the  clergy  had  become  indispensable  to 
the  kings,  as  they  had  the  monopoly  of  education  and 
all  higher  government  officials  had  to  be  selected  from 
their  number.  Besides,  they  were  naturally  more 
dependent  on  the  Emperor  because  their  fiefs  were  not 
hereditary,  and  therefore  they  formed  a  much  more 
reliable  support  than  the  secular  vassals;  they  were 
taxable  under  certain  conditions  and  always  available 
for  royal  service ;  all  diplomacy  was  in  then1  hands. 
When  in  the  fight  which  ensued  they  took  the  part  of 
the  Pope,  it  was  because  they  thought  that  a  success  of 
his  claims  would  make  them  independent  of  the  king, 
while  past  experience  led  them  to  believe  that  the 
Pope's  power  could  not  make  itself  felt  very  strongly. 

When  Emperor  Henry  V  succeeded  in  getting  the 
signature  of  Pope  Paschalis  II  to  a  treaty  intended  to 
bring  about  the  separation  of  ecclesiastical  and  secular 
interests,  a  solution  which  would  have  best  served  the 


xiv  EMPEROR  AND  POPE  137 

ideal  purposes  of  each,  the  clergy,  fearing  to  lose  their 
rich  worldly  possessions,  which  they  owed  to  the 
Emperor,  in  a  special  synod  anathemized  the  treaty; 
and  this  tune  the  Pope  found  it  to  his  advantage  to 
place  himself  under  the  authority  of  the  synod.  It  was 
the  ability  or  inability  of  the  popes  to  bring  the  German 
clergy  to  their  side  which  decided  their  victory  or  defeat. 
The  more  the  Germans  learned  to  look  upon  the 
priests  as  something  more  than  mere  sorcerers,  the  more 
the  awakening  of  the  religious  sense  and  of  true  piety 
taught  them  to  distinguish  between  the  spiritual  and 
material  world,  the  higher  became  the  dignity  and  the 
greater  grew  the  power  of  the  clergy  over  the  minds  of 
the  people.  But  this  same  religious  awakening  brought 
with  it  the  demand  that  the  life  of  the  priests  be  worthy 
of  their  high  office.  It  was  but  natural  for  the  newly 
discovered  spiritual  life  to  become  unduly  emphasized, 
which  led  to  an  excessive  contempt  of  everything 
worldly.  Thus  arose  a  continuous  antithesis  of  the 
soul  as  the  seat  of  purity  and  the  body  as  the  vessel  of 
sin,  which  brought  about  the  denial  of  life  and  health 
with  asceticism  as  their  avowed  enemy.  It  has  been 
shown  that  this  mediaeval  asceticism  had  its  origin  and 
found  its  greatest  development  in  Romance  monasteries, 
and  that  this  monastic  reform  had  a  tendency  to  cen- 
tralization ;  the  monks  tried  with  success  to  place  them- 
selves outside  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  bishops  and 
directly  under  the  authority  of  the  Roman  See,  which, 
of  course,  as  long  as  the  popes  were  of  the  character 
described,  meant  perfect  independence.  The  reform 
movement  originated  in  the  French  monastery  of  Cluny 
in  the  tenth  century,  and  although  the  Germans  did 
not  go  to  the  same  extremes  as  then-  French  brethren, 
yet  this  influence  met  with  their  own  deeper  conception 


138  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

of  religion.  This  reform  movement  found  its  strongest 
and  most  efficient  protector  in  Emperor  Henry  III. 
He  ended  the  shameful  conditions  at  the  papal  court, 
and,  by  the  appointment  of  Bishop  Bruno  of  Toul  as 
Pope,  he  gained,  for  monastic  reform,  possession  of  the 
highest  power  in  the  Church.  Henry,  who  had  upheld 
his  imperial  authority  in  spite  of  his  genuine  and  deep 
piety,  died  when  his  son,  Henry  IV,  was  only  six  years 
old,  and  immediately  the  monastic  party  began  its 
intrigues.  Monastic  rules  were  made  binding  on  all 
priests;  celibacy,  the  introduction  of  which  had  been 
previously  attempted,  but  which  hitherto  had  affected 
the  bishops  only,  was  now  enforced  upon  all  the  clergy 
with  the  support  of  the  lay  world.  The  reasons, 
publicly  given,  were  not  very  complimentary  to  the 
women.  The  true  reason,  however,  why  the  Church 
forbade  marriage  to  the  priests  was  in  order  that  no 
particle  of  the  energy  and  interests  of  the  servants  of 
the  Church  should  be  diverted  to  outside  matters. 
Three  years  after  the  death  of  Henry  III  —  the  same 
year  in  which  began  the  influence  of  Hildebrand,  later 
Pope  Gregory  VII  in  Rome  —  it  was  decided  that  the 
Pope  should  be  elected  by  the  clergy  of  the  city  of 
Rome,  seven  cardinal  bishops  and  twenty  cardinal 
priests.  This  made  the  government  of  the  universal 
Church  dependent  on  a  local  body,  as  it  is  practically 
to-day,  notwithstanding  a  few  modifications  of  the 
institution. 

With  the  accession  of  Gregory  VII  began  the  open 
fight  between  Romanism  and  the  Germans,  and  not 
with  the  Germans  alone,  but  with  all  secular  powers. 
This  endless  antagonism  has  a  character  of  its  own 
which  will  claim  our  repeated  attention,  not  only 
because  this  book  deals  with  Germans,  but  also  because 


xiv  EMPEROR  AND  POPE  139 

of  the  position  gained  by  the  German  clergy  under  the 
feudal  system,  and  because  in  the  German  character 
the  assertion  of  individuality  is  in  continuous  conflict 
with  Christian  piety  and  humility.  For  this  reason 
it  has  seemed  advisable  to  treat  the  origin  of  the 
struggle  with  more  detail  than  has  been  our  rule  with 
political  matters. 

The  point  on  which  centred  the  attack  of  the  Church 
against  the  secular  powers  was  a  weak  one.  It  was 
simony,  or  the  habit  of  selling  ecclesiastical  offices  for 
money,  which,  in  consequence  of  the  holding  of  temporal 
powers  and  possessions  by  the  clergy,  had  become  a 
common  practice,  indulged  in  both  by  the  king  and  his 
dukes,  by  the  Pope  and  his  bishops.  The  first  period 
of  conflict  had  for  its  object  the  investiture  by  the  king 
of  the  clerical  dignitaries  with  the  symbols  of  ecclesias- 
tical power,  ring  and  crozier.  One  must  remember 
what  an  important  part  symbolism  played  in  the  life 
of  the  time  in  order  to  understand  the  significance  of 
this  contention.  The  victory  which  the  popes  gained 
hi  getting  from  the  emperors  the  concession  that  the 
bishops  and  abbots  should  receive  their  fiefs  not  under 
the  symbol  of  ring  and  staff,  but  by  the  handing  over 
of  a  sceptre,  meant  the  acknowledgment  of  the  rule  of 
the  Pope.  What  the  popes  really  wanted  is  shown  by 
the  claim  of  Gregory  :  "The  whole  world  is  a  fief  of  the 
Papal  See,  and  all  the  princes  are  only  vassals  of  the 
pope ;"  he  demanded  feudal  tribute  from  every  house- 
hold, but  succeeded  in  getting  it  only  where  very  weak 
princes  were  in  power.  This  claim  has  never  been 
given  up,  and  England  has  seen  at  least  one  of  her  kings 
submit  to  it.  Its  most  famous  expression,  often  quoted 
to-day,  is  contained  in  the  bull  Unam  sanctam,  addressed 
to  all  Christians  by  Boniface  VIII,  a  Pope  who  before 


140  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION    CHAP,  xiv 

witnesses  declared  the  divine  law  to  be  a  human  inven- 
tion to  keep  the  great  mass  of  the  people  in  fear  by  the 
horrors  of  eternal  punishment :  "  There  are  two  swords, 
the  spiritual  and  the  secular ;  not  only  the  former,  but 
also  the  latter,  is  under  the  control  of  the  pope.  It  is 
true  the  secular  sword  is  held  by  the  kings,  but  only 
at  the  nod  and  suffering  of  the  popes.  The  secular 
power  is  subject  to  the  spiritual,  the  latter  instructs  and 
judges  the  former,  but  the  pope  has  no  judge  above 
him.  We  declare  it  as  an  article  of  faith  that  every 
human  creature  is  subject  to  the  pope  and  whoever 
believes  differently  cannot  be  saved."  This  claim, 
which  forms  a  part  of  the  Canon  Law,  the  law  of  the 
Church  to-day,  must  be  kept  in  mind  in  reading  of 
the  bitter  conflicts  wherever  Church  and  state  are  not 
separate  and  wherever  the  Church  tries  to  gain  political 
power.  Wherever  a  nation  takes  up  a  fight  against 
Rome,  it  is  not  a  fight  against  religion,  but  a  fight  for 
political  liberty.  The  entering  of  this  claim  into  politics 
is  of  the  greatest  importance  in  understanding  German 
history  and  German  culture,  for  here  politics  are  inter- 
mingled with  the  deepest  interests  of  the  heart. 


CHAPTER  XV 

CHIVALRY.      THE    CRUSADES 

THE  rapid  increase  of  papal  power  induced  the  Pope 
to  make  use  of  the  intense  religious  feeling  of  the  times 
by  calling  all  Christians  to  arms  for  the  conquest  of 
the  Holy  Sepulchre.  Pilgrimages  to  the  shrines  of  the 
saints  and  the  holy  places  where  they  had  shown  their 
power  by  working  miracles,  especially  those  of  healing 
the  sick,  had  become  a  popular  form  of  asceticism,  of 
satisfying  that  self-accusing  spirit  of  sinfulness  in  the 
sight  of  which  the  very  instinct  of  life  wras  a  cause  for 
penitence.  As  these  pilgrims  did  not  have  the  use  of 
parlor  cars  and  sumptuous  state-rooms,  their  travels, 
even  if  not  as  was  usual,  on  foot,  entailed  real  hardships. 
The  holy  places  that  had  witnessed  the  life  and  suffer- 
ings of  the  Saviour  had  been  the  goal  of  pilgrims  from 
Europe  for  some  time ;  and  the  persecutions  of  the 
pilgrims,  which  had  increased  after  the  Turks  became 
masters  of  Jerusalem,  made  such  pilgrimages  more 
meritorious.  As  the  Turks  encroached  more  and  more 
on  the  territories  of  the  Eastern  Emperor  in  Constan- 
tinople, he  asked  help  of  the  Pope,  who  gladly  embraced 
this  opportunity  of  showing  himself  lord  of  the  Christian 
world. 

We  shall  see  that  the  Crusades  indicate  the  high- 
water  mark  of  papal  authority,  and  at  the  same  time 
mark  the  beginning  of  its  decline.  The  Church  herself, 
by  placing  in  the  service  of  the  holy  cause  the  physical 

141 


142  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

virtues  and  the  very  instincts  she  had  constantly  warred 
against  as  vicious,  strengthened  the  very  spirit  of 
worldliness  over  which  she  had  just  gained  a  fancied 
victory.  In  proper  connection  there  will  be  occasion 
to  point  out  the  influence  of  the  Crusades  on  European 
civilization  and  the  German  attitude  towards  them. 
The  immediate  effects  of  the  march  through  Germany 
of  the  unorganized,  undisciplined  hordes,  which  formed 
the  vanguard  of  the  first  Crusade,  were  disgusting  to 
the  inhabitants  of  that  country.  They  brought  in  their 
wake  disturbances  of  all  kinds,  and  roused  to  activity 
the  worst  elements  of  the  population.  A  savage  perse- 
cution of  the  Jews  was  the  first  new  fashion  introduced 
by  these  instruments  of  higher  civilization,  as  the  Cru- 
sades are  usually  described.  But  on  the  whole  they 
helped  to  success  the  reaction  of  the  instincts  of  life 
against  the  world-despising  powers  of  asceticism.  They 
coincided  with  other  factors  working  towards  the  same 
end,  of  which  the  transition  from  an  agrarian  to  a 
financial  system  is  the  most  important.  Indeed,  among 
the  causes  which  were  responsible  for  the  Crusades, 
although  not  so  prominent  on  the  surface,  commercial 
considerations  play  a  very  important  part.  This 
strengthening  of  the  worldly  spirit  found  its  finest 
expression  in  the  development  of  Chivalry. 

The  origin  of  Chivalry  dates  back  to  the  change  in 
warfare  necessitated  by  the  invasions  of  an  enemy  who 
fought  on  horseback,  who  suddenly  appeared,  accom- 
plished his  work  of  plunder  and  destruction,  and  disap- 
peared on  his  fleet  horses  before  an  army  could  be 
marched  out  to  meet  him.  The  Saracens  in  France  at 
the  time  of  Charles  the  Hammer  had  caused  the  trans- 
formation of  the  army,  making  the  cavalry  its  principal, 
almost  exclusive,  body.  The  same  cause  led  to  the 


xv  CHIVALRY.    THE   CRUSADES  143 

same  result  in  Germany  a  hundred  years  later,  only 
here,  instead  of  Saracens,  the  enemy  were  Mongolians, 
who  for  a  long  time  periodically  appeared  on  their 
small  horses,  devastating  the  country  and  extending 
their  raids  even  to  the  left  banks  of  the  Rhine.  Al- 
though in  reality  the  strength  of  the  German  people 
was  greater  than  that  of  the  Mongols,  still  there  was 
no  chance  to  display  it.  This  was  recognized  by  Henry 
I,  the  first  Saxon  king  of  Germany,  who  felt  keenly  the 
disgrace  of  being  tributary  to  these  wild  hordes.  He 
set  about  creating  a  mounted  army  which  should  equal 
the  enemy  in  swiftness.  As  in  France,  the  foot-soldier 
lost  his  importance  and  the  horse  formed  the  backbone 
of  the  army.  So  important  was  this  feature  that  only 
the  freeman  who  was  able  to  keep  a  horse  and  to  furnish 
the  corresponding  equipment  was  considered  to  perform 
fully  his  military  duty.  The  influence  this  had  in  in- 
creasing the  power  of  the  great  landholders,  and  in  the 
development  of  feudalism,  has  been  seen  in  a  former 
chapter.  Knighthood  originally  meant  nothing  else 
but  this  service  on  horseback,  and  was  developed,  as 
mentioned  before,  without  regard  to  the  old  distinction 
between  free  and  unfree.  Many  a  villain  in  the  employ 
of  his  master  rose  to  knighthood  or  even  higher.  The 
English  word  knight  recalls  these  conditions,  as  its 
original  meaning,  preserved  in  the  German  Knecht,  is 
serf  or  servant ;  the  German  Hitter,  as  well  as  its  French 
equivalent,  being  taken  from  the  knight's  military 
calling  as  a  horseman,  chevalier,  cavalier.  Only  in  a 
later  period  of  the  Middle  Ages  did  it  become  a  law 
that  only  the  descendants  of  three  generations  of  free- 
born  nobles  were  admissible  to  knighthood. 

Thus  this  occupation  became  a  social  order,  an  estate. 
This  indicates  another  change  in  social  distinctions,  as 


144  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

the  place  of  the  Grundholden  and  Grundherren,  tenants 
and  landlords,  who  had  grown  to  be  the  foundation  of 
society  since  the  days  of  the  Merovings,  was  taken  by 
the  clergy,  the  princes,  the  knights,  the  peasants,  and 
alongside  of  these,  the  burghers.  At  the  same  time 
the  idea  of  equality  in  birth  within  the  different  estates, 
Ebenbiirtigkeit,  not  altogether  strange  to  primitive 
Germanic  conditions,  became  an  established  principle 
..  of  the  greatest  influence,  and  not  without  power  to-day. 
We  have  seen  that  circumstances  had  caused  the 
development  of  chivalry  in  France  long  before  there  was 
a  cause  for  it  in  Germany;  the  influence  of  the  old 
provincial  Roman  culture,  the  contact  with  the  highly 
civilized  Arabs,  who,  with  a  mental  versatility  far  above 
their  Romance  and  Germanic  contemporaries,  had 
rapidly  developed  a  superior  culture  of  their  own,  the 
serenity  of  the  southern  climate, — all  these  factors  com- 
bined to  foster  the  growth  of  the  new  order  in  the  south 
of  France.  Here  were  conceived  and  developed  those 
finer  external  forms  in  which  chivalry  moved  and  which 
are  comprised  under  the  Middle  High  German  word 
hovescheit.  They  found  their  highest  aesthetic  expres- 
sion in  the  poetry  and  the  romances  of  knighthood 
(hofische  Dichtung).  The  English  word  courtesy 
comes  down  from  these  tunes,  like  its  French  original 
courtoisie,  which  really  means  the  custom  of  the 
court ;  the  German  expression  is  only  a  literal  transla- 
tion of  the  same  word. 

Although  foreign  influences  were  at  work  to  some 
extent  before  the  Crusades,  it  was  principally  the  per- 
sonal intercourse  of  the  French  and  German  knights 
during  that  time  which  gave  finish  to  the  institution  hi 
Germany,  which  up  to  this  time  had  in  the  main  grown 
along  its  own  lines.  At  first  the  awkwardness  of  the 


xv  CHIVALRY.    THE   CRUSADES  145 

German  knights  exposed  them  to  not  a  little  ridicule 
on  the  part  of  their  brethren  of  the  Cross,  but  it  was  not 
long  before  German  knighthood  held  its  own,  and 
afterwards  there  is  no  end  to  the  complaints  of  their 
overbearing  ways,  their  superbia,  towards  other  nations. 
The  temptation  to  delay  amid  the  splendor  of  the  ro- 
mantic side  of  chivalry  is  great,  but  on  the  one  hand  it 
would  take  more  time  than  is  in  keeping  with  its  impor- 
tance for  the  general  development  of  our  subject,  and 
on  the  other,  it  may  be  assumed  that  it  is  familiar  to 
the  reader  through  Walter  Scott. 

The  significance  of  Chivalry,  however,  is  to  be  found 
in  this :  For  the  first  time  there  appears  an  exclusive 
class  culture  which  sharply  distinguishes  its  participants 
from  the  other  classes,  a  culture  grown  upon  national 
soil,  but  become  international  under  French  influence ; 
for  the  first  time  we  observe  the  interchange  of  cultural 
influences  between  the  nations  of  western  Europe,  which 
so  sharply  distinguishes  our  civilization  from  that  of 
the  Mediterranean  coast,  which  cannot  be  characterized 
as  a  mutual  fecundation,  but  as  a  transmission  —  some- 
times rather  superficial  —  of  a  dying  civilization  to  its 
successor.  The  region  where  this  exchange  between 
France  and  Germany  took  place  earliest  and  most 
rapidly  was  in  the  country  along  the  Rhine  and  in 
Flanders,  where  the  French  and  the  German,  not 
separated  by  any  natural  boundaries,  lived  side  by 
side  on  the  plain. 

Chivalry  is  further  important  in  that  for  the  first  time 
we  meet  again  an  ideal  of  life  outside  of  the  Church ; 
for  the  first  time  we  see  a  higher  secular  culture.  Thus 
the  Crusades  prevented  the  realization  of  the  aims  of 
the  Church  in  the  long  conflict  between  Emperor  and 
Pope  just  at  the  moment  when  they  appeared  to  have 


146  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

been  attained.  Both  the  acquaintance  with  Greek 
Catholics,  and  the  intercourse  with  Mohammedans, 
which  was  very  active  during  the  periods  of  truce, 
showed  the  Crusaders  that  manly  virtue  was  by  no 
means  wanting  outside  the  folds  of  the  Roman  Church, 
and  that  dogmatic  differences  in  creeds  were  not  at  all 
so  important  as  had  been  taught.  The  different  culture 
of  their  opponents  could  not  fail  to  impress  the  Chris- 
tians, and  continued  its  influence  after  they  had  returned 
to  their  homes.  Furthermore  the  unfortunate  ending 
of  the  Crusades,  the  dissolute  behavior  of  the  rabble, 
who  formed  a  considerable  part  of  the  army  of  the  Cross, 
caused  some  doubts  as  to  the  infallibility  of  the  Church ; 
-a  contemporary  German  bishop,  indeed,  in  his  account 
of  the  second  Crusade  inquires  whether  the  conquest 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  was  really  in  accord  with  the  will 
of  God,  and  whether  the  Almighty,  if  he  really  cared, 
might  not  have  accomplished  it  without  the  sacrifice 
of  so  many  human  lives.  Especially  in  Germany  the 
conflict  between  the  Pope  and  Emperor,  between  the 
spiritual  and  secular  power,  although  the  former  had 
gained  the  upper  hand  for  the  time,  had  caused  many 
people  to  think  independently,  and  thus  the  Church 
had  lost  considerably  in  prestige  and  devotion.  Even 
among  the  clergy  there  was  a  strong  national  party. 
In  spite  of  German  religiosity  and  mysticism,  of  all  the 
enthusiasm  aroused  by  Bernhard  of  Clairvaux,  the 
Crusades  were  not  very  popular  in  Germany,  and  a  great 
German  army,  which  followed  the  Cross  for  religious 
reasons,  was  brought  together  only  in  the  second 
Crusade  under  immediate  inspiration  of  the  eloquent 
Bernhard.  There  was  not  nearly  the  same  enthusiasm 
in  the  army  of  Barbarossa,  and  many  vassals  refused 
outright  to  take  the  Cross  with  their  contingent. 


xv  CHIVALRY.    THE  CRUSADES  147 

This  tendency  towards  worldly  interests,  which,  after 
the  consciousness  of  heathenism  had  died  out,  began  to 
conceive  life  as  something  more  than  a  mere  transition 
to  purgatory,  hell,  or  heaven,  was  not  at  all  confined 
to  the  knights,  but  had  taken  hold  everywhere,  espe- 
cially in  the  cities.  Besides,  there  were  certain  matters 
in  which  the  Church  in  many  parts  of  Germany  had 
never  been  allowed  to  interfere.  As  late  as  the  fifteenth 
century  a  priest  who  had  come  uninvited  to  bless  a 
marriage  performed  according  to  ancient  German  law 
was  sent  home  with  ridicule  by  the  peasants,  who  told 
him  that  "matrimony  existed  before  parsons." 

The  temporal  side  of  the  ideal  of  knighthood  found 
its  highest  embodiment  in  the  conception  of  honor  as  the 
essence  of  all  manly,  that  is,  of  course,  especially  warlike, 
virtues.  And  this  idea  was  not  conceived  in  an  exter- 
nal sense  only,  but  as  a  moral  standard,  as  self-respect. 
"Now  bethink  you  of  your  knightly  honor  and  of  your- 
self, who  you  are,"  Tristan  is  told  in  Gottfrid  of  Strass- 
burg's  poem.  Many  are  the  passages  in  Wolfram  von 
Eschenbach  and  Walter  von  der  Vogelweide  which  show 
the  loftiest  conception  of  honor.  In  view  of  the  pride 
of  the  warrior  the  Christian  ideal  of  humility  cannot 
have  had  a  very  lasting  influence,  though  certainly  in 
the  first  enthusiasm  of  the  Crusades,  under  the  sway  of 
asceticism,  the  simple  heart  of  many  a  knight  opened 
itself  to  this  mood,  so  dangerous  to  manly  dignity  and 
love  of  liberty.  Likewise  the  knightly  duty  of  the  pro- 
tection of  the  weak,  the  widows,  and  the  orphans  was 
practised  with  less  sentimentality,  but  also  with  less 
regard  for  future  rewards,  than  had  been  the  custom  of 
the  Church. 

Besides  a  higher  secular  culture  and  the  beginnings 
of  a  morality  founded  on  individual  character,  Chivalry, 


148  ^HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

in  making  the  service  of  women  the  centre  of  its  social 
existence,  for  the  first  time  introduces  woman  into  social 
life.  By  making  the  married  woman  and  the  woman  of 
a  higher  class  the  object  of  his  wooing,  the  knight  chose 
a  goal  which  was  very  difficult  to  reach,  and  therefore, 
from  the  conqueror's  point  of  view,  not  only  worthier  of 
ambition,  but  also  of  veneration.  For  this  very  reason 
woman,  just  admitted  into  society  on  an  equal  footing, 
was  raised  to  the  exalted  position  of  an  unapproach- 
able mistress,  whose  mere  glance  was  a  blessing,  whose 
lips  by  a  few  kind  words  gave  compensation  for  the  long 
years  of  service  of  her  pining  knight.  This  artificial, 
conventional  side  of  the  " service  of  the  ladies,"  as  well 
as  its  captivating  politeness,  had  been  implanted  in 
Chivalry  by  the  French  influence.  The  etiquette 
actually  observed  in  the  life  in  the  castles  lets  us  see 
how  much  fiction  there  was  in  this  exaltation  of  woman. 

In  Germany,  however,  this  cult  of  woman,  Frauen- 
dienst  or  Minnedienst,  did  not  confine  itself  to  the  con- 
ventional adoration  of  the  wife  of  another,  but  assumed 
a  deeper  character;  we  find  knights  who  are  not 
ashamed  to  praise  their  own  wives  in  their  Minnelieder, 
and  Walter  von  der  Vogelweide  gives  poetic  expression 
to  the  pure  love  of  a  true  German  heart.  But  even 
before  the  total  decay  of  Chivalry,  the  service  of  the 
ladies  had  already  ceased,  and  the  knight  had  directed 
his  desires  towards  village  beauties  and  those  of  other 
circles  where  his  prayers  would  find  more  willing  ears. 

It  is  often  said  that  Chivalry  was  an  artificial  prod- 
uct without  lasting  effect.  It  is  true  that  during  and 
immediately  after  its  decay  the  ideals  it  stood  for 
seemed  to  have  left  very  few  traces.  At  first  the 
people,  especially  in  the  cities,  showed  a  conscious 
opposition  to  this  artificial  super-refinement,  which 


xv  CHIVALRY.    THE  CRUSADES  149 

from  the  beginning  had  been  mimicked  by  the  peasants. 
A  coarse  rudeness,  which  frequently  took  the  form  of 
obscenity,  spread  even  among  the  middle  class,  until  at 
last  the  Grobianus,  the  fellow  who  made  it  a  point  to  be 
rude,  was  introduced,  and  unfortunately  survives.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  wealthy  classes  of  the  cities  longest 
upheld  knightly  customs  in  all  their  external  splendor. 
On  the  whole,  when  we  consider  that  the  qualities 
which  we  comprise  under  the  word  chivalrousness, 
Ritterlichkeit,  have  entered  into  the  composition  of 
every  respectable  German  to-day,  that  the  conception 
of  honor  plays  such  an  important  part  in  German  life, 
that  the  veneration  of  the  gentler  sex  has  freed  itself 
from  that  artificial  conventionality,  and  that  the  rela- 
tion of  the  man  to  the  girl  he  woos  has  taken  the  nobler 
form  of  which  Master  Walter  sings,  the  German  has 
every  reason  to  think  gratefully  of  the  age  that  produced 
these  ideals.  And  where  to-day  the  ancient  castles, 
though  only  a  few  ruined  walls,  bring  a  mysterious 
greeting  from  those  bygone  times,  there  the  people 
weave  around  them  a  veil  of  legends,  in  which  a  curious 
mixture  of  the  romantic  life  of  the  knight  and  his  fierce- 
ness survives  in  an  ever-flowing  current. 

Renouncing  the  service  of  the  ladies,  the  knightly 
orders  gave  an  ascetic  tendency  to  chivalrous  ideals. 
We  shall  see  how  at  least  one  of  them,  the  Order  of  the 
German  Knights,  usually  called  Teutonic  Order,  did  not 
confine  itself  to  fighting,  but  became  a  powerful  civiliz- 
ing agent.  These  knightly  orders  left  traces  in  modern 
life  in  the  shape  of  crosses,  stars,  etc.,  which  form  a 
cheap  means  for  European  and  other  governments, 
monarchical  and  republican,  to  reward  faithful  sub- 
jects or  party  followers  and  to  win  the  good- will  of 
the  ambitious.  This  successful  exploitation  of  human 


150  HISTORY  OF_  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

fondness  for  external  honors  owes  its  origin  to  Emperor 
Sigismund  in  the  fifteenth  century. 

Even  before  the  introduction  of  gunpowder  had  made 
the  protection  afforded  by  armor  ineffective,  the  arms 
of  the  knight  had  become  so  heavy  that  they  had  to  be 
carried  by  armor-bearers  until  the  beginning  of  the 
battle  and  then  so  encumbered  the  knight  as  speedily 
to  exhaust  him.  The  defeats  suffered  in  several  great 
battles,  by  the  armies  of  the  Habsburgs  and  of  the  Bur- 
gundians  at  the  hands  of  Swiss  peasants  showed  the 
helplessness  of  the  knights  against  sturdy  infantry, 
and  put  an  end  to  the  use  of  the  knights  as  the  back- 
bone of  the  army.  Then*  place  was  taken  by  hired 
mercenaries,  who  had  already  been  introduced  to  some 
extent ;  the  Swiss  were  most  in  demand,  and  after  the 
victories  just  mentioned  they  became  instructors  in  the 
new  art  of  warfare  in  all  European  countries. 

On  the  economic  side  the  decay  of  chivalry  was  chiefly 
due  to  the  gradual  change  from  an  agrarian  to  a  finan- 
cial system,  the  consequence  of  the  growth  of  commerce 
in  the  cities.  Many  knights  had  given  up  all  their 
property  during  the  Crusades  to  pay  for  then*  equip- 
ment. This  period  of  economic  transition  coincided 
with  and  was  indeed  one  of  the  immediate  causes  of  the 
decay  of  the  empire,  which  reached  its  climax  in  the 
so-called  Interregnum  in  the  thirteenth  century.  In  a 
period  of  general  insecurity  and  weakened  legal  author- 
ity, the  reasons  for  which  have  been  given  in  former 
chapters,  the  right  of  private  war,  Fehderecht,  became 
confirmed  as  a  social  institution.  The  settlement  of 
legal  disputes,  however,  had  long  ceased  to  be  the  only 
cause  for  petty  warfare ;  the  mere  love  of  quarrel  or  lust 
for  plunder  led  the  impoverished  knight  to  wage  war  on 
his  neighbor,  neglecting  the  challenge  prescribed  by  law 


xv  CHIVALRY.    THE   CRUSADES  151 

or  sending  it  only  with  the  first  assault  upon  the  enemy's 
castle.  Soon  challenges  were  sent  to  the  cities,  simply 
as  a  pretext  to  harass  their  caravans  of  merchandise. 
At  last  they  came  down  to  common  highway  robbery. 
Knights  without  fiefs  rivalled  in  violence  the  small 
holders  of  castles. 

The  great  vassals,  who  in  the  meantime  had  obtained 
almost  complete  independence  and,  by  their  wise  policy, 
had  successfully  overcome  the  economic  crisis,  could 
not  look  with  equanimity  on  this  disorder ;  often  they 
took  the  field  against  the  robber  knights  as  allies  of  the 
cities  and  tried  to  get  possession  of  as  many  castles  as 
possible,  to  be  occupied  by  their  own  retinue.  Grad- 
ually, however,  many  of  the  smaller  vassals  became 
officials,  who  held  their  fief,  not  as  an  hereditary  usufruct, 
but  for  a  time  only,  and  as  soon  as  possible  this  was 
replaced  by  a  compensation  in  cash  money,  a  salary. 
Thus  the  territorial  lords  had  distributed  their  officials 
over  their  whole  territory.  The  latter  resided  in  their 
castles,  which  were  centres  of  administration;  they 
were  also,  of  course,  the  military  leaders  of  their 
districts  and  helped  with  greater  ease  to  subject  all 
independent  elements  to  the  central  power.  Thus  the 
feudal  state  crumbled  together  with  the  imperial  power ; 
the  great  vassal  had  become  the  ruler  of  his  territory, 
der  Landesherr ;  to  a  great  extent  the  smaller  vassal 
had  changed  into  an  administrative  official,  and  the 
knights  had  become  a  court  nobility,  as  the  last  stage 
of  the  old  German  comitatus,  the  most  faithful  servants 
of  their  princes.  Emperor  Charles  IV  showed  a  clear 
understanding  of  this  development  by  creating  nobility 
by  patent,  the  official  end  of  Chivalry. 

We  shall  not  part  from  Chivalry  without  giving  at 
least  one  glance  at  the  literature  of  this  period,  which 


152  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

owes  a  great  debt  to  knighthood,  a  period  not  only  of 
high  attainments  in  poetry,  but  of  a  great  advance  of 
the  German  language,  and  we  may  say  that  the  period 
of  Chivalry  made  the  German  language  again  respect- 
able in  its  own  country.  We  know  that  there  was  a 
long  period  when  all  literature  in  Germany  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  clergy,  who  tried  their  best  to  replace  the 
language  of  the  people  by  a  very  poor  variety  of  Latin. 
But  the  Germans  had  their  own  poetry  in  spite  of  this. 
It  was  in  the  hands  of  a  class  of  vagrants  or  wandering 
musicians,  called  Spielleute,  the  successors,  in  part,  of 
the  Roman  mimi  and  gladiatores,  who  had  appeared 
among  the  Germans  of  earlier  times  as  Kdmpen.  When 
the  highly  respected  court  singer  of  migration  times,  the 
skop,  had  disappeared,  the  Spielmann  fell  heir  to  his 
subjects.  Travel  acquainted  him  with  new  subjects 
here  and  there,  he  saw  with  his  own  eyes  the  more 
advanced  culture  of  the  Romance  nations  and,  perhaps, 
the  ancient  civilization  of  Constantinople.  A  great 
many  of  the  vagrants  were  clerics  who  had  left  their 
profession,  not  always  for  honorable  reasons,  or  students 
who  never  completed  their  studies.  Among  them  were 
preserved,  not  only  the  old  traditions  in  opposition 
to  ecclesiastical  tendencies,  but  here  was  also  prepared 
that  secular  culture  which  found  its  highest  development 
in  the  tune  of  Chivalry.  These  wandering  singers 
first  brought  French  manners  to  Germany,  and  many 
of  them  made  Latin  poems;  they  gradually  found 
admission  and  welcome  at  the  courts  of  the  nobles  and 
may  be  compared  to  the  literary  Bohemians  of  to-day. 
In  time  their  poetry  rose  to  a  higher  grade,  and  soon 
they  became  the  teachers  of  the  knights. 

This  is  the  only  way  in  which  we  can  explain  the 
origin  of  the  great  national  epics,  the  Nibelungenlied 


xv  CHIVALRY.    THE  CRUSADES  153 

and  Kudrun,  in  which  the  ancient  heroic  sagas  suddenly 
reappear  far  from  the  place  of  their  original  formation, 
but  still  preserving  all  their  characteristic  features. 
Especially  a  truly  national  lyric  poetry  is  developed, 
which,  free  from  foreign  influences,  long  leads  an  inde- 
pendent life.  We  find  many  single  stanzas  of  a  remark- 
able fullness  and  purity  of  feeling,  like  the  well-known : 

Thou  art  mine 

I  am  thine 

Of  this  thou  shouldst  be  certain. 

Locked  art  thou 

Within  my  heart, 

Lost  is  the  key, 

Thou  must  ever  therein  be. 

Or  the  little  dance  song :  — 

Come,  my  comrade,  come  to  me, 
Eagerly  I  wait  for  thee ! 
Eagerly  I  wait  for  thee, 
Come,  my  comrade,  come  to  me. 

Mouth,  so  sweet,  of  rosy  wealth, 
Come  and  give  me  back  my  health. 
Come  and  give  me  back  my  health, 
Mouth,  so  sweet,  of  rosy  wealth. 

The  great  field  to  be  covered  in  this  survey  makes  it 
impossible  to  show  more  than  beginnings  and  open  up 
new  vistas.  Thus  there  can  be  pointed  out  only  the 
first  advance  of  secular  poetry,  which,  combining  with 
the  chivalric,  the  Hofische,  the  sources  of  which  have 
already  been  pointed  out,  at  last  ends  with  the  two 
great  poets  Walter  von  der  Vogelweide  and  Wolfram 
von  Eschenbach. 

And  these  flowers  are  no  foreign  growth  on  German 
soil.  "If  we  compare  the  wealth  of  the  interests  of  the 
heart,"  says  one  of  the  greatest  German  historians, 


154  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION    CHAP,  xv 

"which  find  expression  during  the  great  time  of  med- 
iaeval lyrics  with  the  scantiness  of  Provengal  and  French 
poetry,  which  is  almost  exclusively  erotic,  we  shall 
from  the  start  avoid  the  mistake  of  assuming  that  the 
German  lyrics  of  this  tune,  as  far  as  their  contents  are 
concerned,  are  derived  from  a  foreign  model  or  are  even 
throughout  dependent.  With  the  exception  of  the 
conventional  ideal  of  love,  which  in  the  development  of 
its  social  forms  was  partly  influenced  by  France,  the 
derivations  are  essentially  confined  to  the  form  and 
to  the  conventional  expression  of  the  poems.  And 
likewise  here  the  foreign  influence  has  really  only  a 
purifying  effect  on  a  native  development,  as,  perhaps, 
classical  art  led  to  the  simplification  of  many  forms  of 
German  ornament  in  the  era  of  the  Karlings." 

Similar  is  the  relation  of  Wolfram  von  Eschenbach  to 
his  foreign  models.  In  him  we  find  the  first  great 
individuality  of  the  world's  literature  since  the  days  of 
classical  antiquity. 

With  the  decay  of  Chivalry,  of  the  minnesongs,  and 
the  higher  epic,  the  stream  of  poetry  is  again  lost  in  the 
broad  mass  of  the  people  from  among  whom  it  had  risen. 
Hence,  in  tune,  it  comes  to  light  again  as  the  Volkslied, 
the  people's  song,  an  evidence  that  whatever  is  accom- 
plished on  the  heights  of  culture  will  gradually  impart 
its  life  to  all  parts  of  the  nation,  and  that  the  apparent 
infecundity  and  shallowness  which  often  follow  a  time 
of  rich  culture  development  mean  simply  that  the 
culture  is  permeating  through  all  strata  of  the  people 
to  become  part  of  the  intellectual  composition  of  the 
whole  nation. 

As  to  the  arts  and  music,  which  owe  their  highest 
development  to  other  influences,  it  seems  preferable  to 
treat  them  in  connection  with  a  later  period. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  GERMAN  SOIL  BY  GERMAN  LABOR 

No  matter  what  our  opinion  regarding  the  Middle 
Ages  may  be,  whether  we  regret  that  the  German 
emperors  found  their  principal  interests  outside  of 
Germany,  whether  we  despise  the  mediaeval  times  as  a 
period  of  absolute  intellectual  darkness,  or  regard  them 
as  the  lost  paradise  of  Romanticism,  or  whether  we 
speculate  as  to  what  might  have  been  accomplished,  if 
things  had  been  done  differently,  there  was  one  task  in 
the  service  of  culture  which  they  performed  to  its  full 
extent  and  with  exceptional  thoroughness.  This  was 
the  opening  up  of  the  native  German  soil  for  cultiva- 
tion, the  clearing  of  the  primeval  forests,  the  draining 
of  the  marshes  and  swamps,  and  the  reconquest  of  old 
Germanic  lands  for  German  settlement.  When  we  first 
hear  of  the  vast  expanse  of  lands  in  the  East  as  far  as 
the  Vistula,  they  are  populated  by  Goths  and  related 
tribes ;  these  Germanic  peoples  are  the  oldest  known 
masters  and  cultivators  of  this  territory,  and  here  are 
found  their  bones  and  their  bronze  swords  in  prehistoric 
tombs.  In  the  first  centuries  of  our  era  we  find  them 
leaving  their  settlements  on  the  banks  of  the  Vistula  as 
do  other  Germanic  tribes  on  all  sides.  Why?  Who 
can  tell?  Some  historians  conclude  from  modern 
analogy  that  the  higher  cultivated  Germans  gave  up 
their  lands  when  the  more  barbaric,  more  easily  satis- 
fied Slavs  began  to  reside  among  them.  It  seems 

155 


156  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

rather  bold  to  transfer  to  these  remote  times  the  condi- 
tion of  the  modern  working-man  of  the  cities,  where  the 
foreigner  with  a  lower  standard  of  living  cuts  down  the 
wages.  Whatever  the  true  causes  of  the  emigration 
may  have  been,  there  are  no  traces  of  violent  expulsion. 
The  Germanic  tribes  give  up  their  country  to  the  Slavs 
as  far  as  the  Elbe  and  the  Saale,  and  having  extended 
their  migrations  all  over  Europe,  even  to  Africa,  they 
perish. 

The  Slavs  occupied  the  vacated  lands  noiselessly. 
Neither  foreign  nor  German  legends  have  preserved  any 
evidence  of  this  process,  which,  therefore,  cannot  have 
been  the  advance  of  a  warlike,  conquering  race.  We  do 
not  hear  of  any  fighting ;  whatever  Germans  remained 
were  probably  absorbed  by  the  Slavs.  Of  the  latter, 
nothing  is  heard  for  a  long  time ;  only  in  the  sixth  cen- 
tury we  get  reports  of  their  advance.  During  the 
sixth  and  seventh  centuries  they  took  advantage  of  the 
continuous  quarrels  between  the  Saxons  and  the 
Thuringians  and  extended  their  raids  across  the  Saale 
River.  In  their  settlements  they  did  not  follow  the 
example  of  the  Germans,  but  employed  a  more  primitive 
kind  of  agriculture.  Their  higher  civilized  German 
neighbors  looked  down  upon  them  as  the  Romans  had 
looked  with  contempt  upon  the  Germans.  As  we  read 
of  the  disgust  of  the  Romans  at  the  odor  of  the  Germans, 
so  the  German  Sturmi  feels  his  nose  offended  by  the 
Slavs  whom  he  meets  bathing  in  the  river  Fulda ;  we 
are  reminded  of  this  when  we  read  that  the  Japanese 
can  hardly  endure  the  odor  of  the  white  race.  The 
Slav  people,  those  who  appear  under  the  collective  name 
of  the  Wends,  as  well  as  the  Poles  and  Czechs  of  that 
time,  did  not  care  much  for  agriculture  and  turned 
to  the  different  crafts ;  the  followers  of  one  handicraft 


xvi  CONQUEST  OF  GERMAN  SOIL  157 

occupied  a  village  by  the  hundreds  and  swarmed  out  of 
it  to  peddle  their  products  or  to  look  for  work  as  wan- 
dering craftsmen.  It  seems  in  some  respects  they 
were  more  skilful  than  the  Germans.  Their  fields 
were  small,  close  to  their  little  villages,  occupying  the 
space  that  had  already  been  cleared  and  cultivated. 
Thus  they  liked  to  benefit  by  the  efforts  of  their  prede- 
cessors, but  they  did  not  think  of  increasing  the  area 
of  cultivated  lands  either  by  clearing  off  forests  or  by 
draining  swamps.  Probably  they  did  not  feel  the  need 
of  it  and  their  implements  were  not  fit  to  cope  with  the 
heavy,  root-filled  soil  of  forests ;  they  had  no  plough  and 
the  art  of  draining  marshes  was  unknown  to  them. 
They  grew  the  common  kinds  of  grain,  and  had  brought 
along  one  new  kind,  hitherto  unknown  in  Europe,  rye, 
which  slowly  spread  among  the  Germans,  with  whom 
it  is  so  common  to-day  that  corn  means  rye,  just  as  in 
America  it  stands  for  maize. 

For  a  long  time  the  Slavs  were  left  in  undisturbed 
possession  of  their  new  lands,  the  Germans  being  satis- 
fied to  prevent  their  advance.  The  centuries  of  con- 
tinuous wars  against  the  Romans  and  the  fierce  struggles 
during  the  great  migrations  had  not  allowed  the  normal 
increase  of  population.  Both  on  the  old  German  soil 
and  in  the  former  Roman  possessions  in  the  south  and 
west  there  was  plenty  of  free  land.  At  first  nobody 
took  up  more  land  than  he  could  cultivate  himself. 
Acquaintance  with  the  more  advanced  methods  of 
the  Romans,  however,  and  the  instructive  example 
given  by  the  monasteries,  as  well  as  economic  changes, 
had  helped  to  introduce  a  more  intensive  mode  of 
agriculture.  We  have  seen  how  the  old  German  free- 
man, who  deemed  all  occupation  save  war  beneath  his 
dignity,  had  turned  into  an  active  farmer.  When  times 


158  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

of  relative  peace  had  set  in,  the  great  work  began  of 
transforming  the  country,  which  with  its  swamps  and 
unpenetrable  forests  had  hitherto  been  so  dismal  that 
Tacitus  could  not  understand  how  any  people  of  their 
own  free  will  could  have  chosen  to  live  there.  The 
settled  districts  were  scattered  like  islands  in  the  wilder- 
ness and  were  literally  islands  of  artificial  origin  in  the 
marshlands.  Gradually,  however,  the  small  tribes  of 
warriors  changed  and  united  into  a  nation  of  peasants, 
whose  king,  though  the  emperor  of  a  universal  mon- 
archy, was  to  them  only  the  most  powerful  landholder. 
Even  the  Church  considered  the  management  of  her 
landed  property  and  the  effectiveness  of  her  agricultural 
methods  of  greater  importance  than  the  dogmatic  and 
political  quibbles  of  the  neighboring  French  hierarchy. 
The  clearing  of  the  forests  was  the  principal  work. 
At  first  this  was  done  only  according  to  the  needs  of  the 
community ;  the  younger  sons  of  the  family  especially, 
about  to  set  up  then-  own  households,  secured  in  this 
way  as  much  land  as  they  needed  for  themselves.  Later 
the  great  landholders  entered  upon  this  work  system- 
atically, appropriating  large  tracts  of  the  king's 
land,  often  without  leave,  or  claiming  their  share  of  the 
allmende  of  the  shire.  Apparently  wild  lands  were 
looked  upon  as  common  property,  and  many  a  grant 
was  encroached  upon  by  the  axe  of  the  cultivator. 
The  greatest  work  was  performed  by  the  monasteries, 
which,  almost  without  exception,  were  established  in 
uncultivated  districts,  so  that  by  following  up  the  time 
and  place  of  their  foundation  we  get  the  history  of  the 
conquest  of  the  forest  by  human  industry.  It  is  as 
"industrious  men"  -  homines  laboriosi  —  that  the  Ger- 
mans of  this  period  are  described  by  their  contempo- 
raries. They  are  the  descendants  of  the  men  who 


xvi  CONQUEST  OF  GERMAN  SOIL  159 

only  a  few  generations  before  were  spending  their  days 
lounging  on  bearskins,  aroused  only  by  the  prospects 
of  a  fight,  a  hunt,  a  feast,  or  a  game  of  dice,  whose  only 
serious  business  had  been  to  attend  their  tribes'  assem- 
bly once  a  month.  Wherever  in  Germany  to-day  there 
are  places  with  names  ending  in  -roda,  -roth,  -rath, 
-reut,  -ruthi,  -harr,  -schlag,  -schlatt,  -schwend,  -schwand, 
-brenn,  -brand,  -hagen,  -stocken,  -oetz,  -hart,  -pasch, 
there  is  evidence  of  this  culture  work  performed  about 
the  year  1000,  and  not  later  than  1300.  One  may 
likewise  be  sure  to  find  in  the  neighborhood  of  almost 
all  these  places  some  old  monastery,  perhaps  in  rums. 

This  work  of  clearing,  which  was  the  real  work  of 
conquest  in  the  colonization  of  lands  occupied  by  the 
Slavs  later  on,  was  the  greatest  work  of  culture  per- 
formed by  the  monks,  not  that  they  were  the  only 
workers,  but  they  were  the  leaders  and  teachers.  We 
willingly  let  them  lose  the  glories  of  classical  scholar- 
ship and  forgive  them  the  negligence  with  which  they 
treated  musty  old  manuscripts  for  the  grand  work  they 
did  in  the  fields. 

As  important  as  their  work  of  clearing  was  the  system 
on  which  their  farms  were  organized,  the  model  for  the 
agricultural  development  of  all  Germany.  The  mon- 
asteries, of  course,  differed  in  the  size  of  their  property, 
in  the  number  of  monks,  which  as  a  rule  was  as  high  as 
one  hundred,  sometimes  two  hundred,  and  in  the  mass 
of  villains  and  serfs,  the  latter  mostly  Slav  prisoners 
of  war.  The  rule  generally  observed  in  German  monas- 
teries during  the  earlier  times  was  that  of  St.  Benedict, 
which  required  seven  hours  of  bodily  labor  daily  from 
every  monk.  But  soon  this  could  be  maintained  only 
in  smaller  establishments.  The  greater  ones  required 
as  extensive  and  systematic  an  organization  as  the 


160  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

management  of  any  farm  of  a  manorial  lord,  with 
numerous  dependent  laborers.  The  monks,  however, 
remained  the  skilful  and  expert  supervisors  of  the 
whole ;  as  in  any  great  administration,  different  depart- 
ments were  allotted  to  those  most  fitted  to  be  in  charge. 
They  were  superior  in  many  respects  to  the  secular 
landlords  and  had  the  advantage  of  the  traditions  of 
antiquity,  revived  from  time  to  time  by  the  reading  of 
ancient  writers.  A  great  many  reforms  were  intro- 
duced by  visiting  brethren  from  abroad  and  by  the 
travels,  often  in  distant  countries,  of  the  resident 
monks  themselves. 

A  great  monastery  of  the  early  Middle  Ages  was  the 
centre  of  many  different  industrial  activities.  Besides 
the  church,  the  living  houses,  and  the  farm  buildings 
proper  we  find  watermills,  wine-cellars  and  presses, 
baking  houses,  shops  for  craftsmen,  like  smiths,  tanners, 
saddlers,  etc.,  and  even  buildings  for  the  manufacture  of 
glass.  The  production  of  salt  was  a  regular  industry. 
The  monks  worked  mines,  built  bridges  and  large  aque- 
ducts ;  they  were  great  architects,  hi  fact,  the  only  archi- 
tects of  earlier  times. 

As  a  period  of  agrarian  civilization  it  is  a  tune  in 
which  health,  vigor,  and  freshness  prevail.  This  first 
step  upward  still  kept  the  Germans  in  close  touch  with 
nature.  The  connection  of  nature  with  human  life  in 
mutual  penetration  is  characteristic  of  the  peasant, 
though  he  is  limited  in  his  activity  and  social  outlook. 
The  cultivation  of  the  land  is  the  centre  of  his  emotions 
and  intellect,  as  it  forms  the  background  of  his  customs. 

Field  and  pasture,  with  preponderance  of  the  former, 
are  for  some  tune  united  in  the  same  farm.  But  the 
herdsman  is  looked  down  upon  by  the  ploughman.  The 
former  becomes  in  time  unehrlich,  outclassed,  dishon- 


xvi  CONQUEST  OF  GERMAN  SOIL  161 

orable.  Before  the  ministerial  nobility  separate  them- 
selves from  the  peasant  we  have  rather  a  uniform  type 
of  life  everywhere,  a  great  simplicity  in  all  respects. 
But  in  consequence  of  the  development  of  the  great 
estates  and  especially  under  the  influence  of  the  mon- 
asteries the  methods  of  husbandry  changed  greatly. 
The  greater  intensity  of  agriculture  and  the  improve- 
ments in  cattle  breeding  brought  about  a  general 
prosperity  by  which  not  only  the  landlords  were 
benefited ;  rent  in  kind,  payment  in  produce,  has  a 
natural  limit,  so  that  the  peasant  also  could  not  fail 
to  derive  advantage  from  the  improved  husbandry. 

The  raising  of  grain  had  become  the  most  important 
feature  of  farming.  Oats  are  still  the  prevailing  variety, 
being  used  for  porridge,  bread,  malt,  and  feed  for  live 
stock.  Rye  is  also  used  for  baking  bread,  while  wheat 
gains  ground  and  is  even  preferred  for  the  finer  kind  of 
pastry  introduced  from  the  West,  and  used  on  the 
manorial  table.  Barley  begins  gradually  to  take  the 
place  of  oats  in  the  brewing  of  beer.  Millet,  the  old 
Indo-European  grain,  continues  to  be  cultivated; 
on  the  manorial  farm,  beans,  peas,  and  other  vege- 
tables, especially  cabbage,  are  carefully  and  success- 
fully raised ;  hemp  and  some  dyeing  plants,  especially 
woad,  were  common ;  flax  was  frequent  in  the  western 
parts  of  the  country.  The  word  garden  begins  to  be 
used  in  connection  with  vegetables.  We  find  cabbage 
gardens,  turnip  gardens,  and  hop  gardens.  Hops  are 
used  first  by  the  monasteries  in  the  beginning  of  the 
ninth  century  as  a  preservative  for  beer,  and  thereby 
make  the  latter  an  article  of  commerce. 

The  culture  of  the  grape-vine  was  much  more  extended 
than  it  is  to-day.  It  was,  so  to  speak,  the  herald  of 
certain  advances  in  civilization.  It  was  introduced  by 


162  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

the  Romans ;  whether  by  Emperor  Probus,  as  is  com- 
monly said,  is  not  quite  certain,  but  it  did  not  cross  the 
Rhine  or  even  reach  it  before  the  sixth  century.  ' '  With 
the  grape-vine,"  says  Hehn,  "there  came  the  stonewall 
which  enclosed  the  vineyard,  the  paved  street  (via 
strata)  which  passed  it  and  connected  the  stone  villas, 
the  markets  (mercatus),  the  monasteries,  the  cathedrals, 
and,  later  on,  the  cities."  The  monks  gave  special 
attention  to  the  vineyards  and  tried  to  improve  the  taste 
of  the  wine  by  adding  aromatic  herbs.  They  spread  its 
cultivation  over  the  eastern  part  of  Germany;  in 
Karling  times  we  find  vineyards  in  Westphalia,  later 
hi  Hesse,  Thuringia,  and  Saxony,  spreading  with  the 
advancing  colonization  into  Bradenburg,  Holstein, 
Mecklenburg,  even  Prussia  and  Silesia.  It  has  since 
disappeared  from  all  these  territories.  Fruit  raising 
was  not  popular  except  hi  the  Rhine  valley.  Grafting 
was  a  common  practice.  In  the  orchards,  tree  gardens, 
as  the  German  word  is,  we  find  several  varieties  of 
apples.  The  orchards  were  often  connected  with  vege- 
table gardens  and  soon  became  a  regular  place  of  recrea- 
tion, the  ornamental  garden,  Ziergarten,  where  in 
summer  almost  the  whole  life  of  the  family,  including 
meal  time,  was  spent.  Here  again  the  monasteries 
take  the  lead,  bringing  from  the  south  the  rose,  the  lily, 
and  other  flowers,  also  medicinal  herbs.  To  the  prod- 
ucts of  the  orchard  they  add  the  apricot  and  the  pear ; 
they  are  the  first  to  raise  lettuce  and  other  plants  for 
salads;  they  introduce  the  eating  of  mushrooms  and 
other  fungi,  and  teach  an  unproved  method  of  making 
butter. 

Cattle  breeding  lost  continually  in  importance  and 
was  left  to  the  larger  landholders,  who  were  also  almost 
the  only  horse  breeders.  Horses  were  many  and  a  great 


xvi  CONQUEST  OF  GERMAN  SOIL  163 

number  were  needed  for  the  knights  and  also  for  travel- 
ling, as  the  roads  were  almost  impassable  for  wagons. 
Horses  were  also  used  for  carrying  burdens,  but  not  very 
often  for  carting,  which  was  done  by  oxen.  The 
practice  of  eating  horseflesh  died  out  under  the  ban  of 
the  Church,  and  beef  was  eaten  in  its  place.  Besides 
this  and  mutton,  pork  held  its  old  place  as  the  staple 
food. 

Sheep  raising  was  very  frequent.  The  skins  were 
worn  as  cloaks  and  the  wool  was  used  to  considerable 
extent.  A  great  variety  of  fowl  were  kept,  among  them 
a  bird  which  we  should  meet  with  astonishment  in  a 
a  farm-yard  to-day,  but  which  at  that  time  shared  honors 
with  the  peacock,  namely  the  crane.  Bees  had  become 
even  more  important  than  in  primitive  times,  not  only 
on  account  of  the  honey,  which  was  used  as  before  in 
place  of  sugar  and  in  the  brewing  of  mead,  but  for  the 
wax,  the  demand  for  which  had  grown  extraordinarily 
to  supply  the  many  candles  used  in  the  churches, 
while  in  the  household,  if  at  all,  tallow  candles  were 
used. 

The  manufacture  of  cheese  was  also  very  extensive. 
Lakes,  rivers,  and  brooks  still  abounded  in  fish,  which 
were  caught  with  the  hook  and  net ;  the  great  number 
of  fast-days  made  them  a  very  important  article  of 
food,  and  hatcheries  in  ponds,  especially  connected 
with  the  monasteries,  are  mentioned  at  a  very  early 
period. 

As  important  as  the  clearing  of  the  woods,  with  which 
we  started  on  this  short  survey  of  mediaeval  husbandry, 
was  the  draining  of  the  swamps  and  the  protection  of 
the  lands  against  floods  from  sea  and  river.  Irish 
monks  are  said  to  have  taken  the  lead  in  both,  although 
the  Romans  had  already  dammed  up  their  highway 


164  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

along  the  banks  of  the  Rhine.  Mention  has  already 
been  made  of  the  settlements  in  the  marshes  on  arti- 
ficial elevations,  Warden,  described  in  the  first  historical 
records  and  still  to  be  seen  in  many  places. 

In  the  low  countries,  in  the  delta  of  the  Rhine  and  the 
Scheldt,  the  work  of  draining  and  of  building  the  dikes 
was  done  most  efficiently.  It  was  a  kind  of  work  which, 
in  its  constant  fight  against  the  elements,  must  have 
helped  greatly  hi  raising  the  intellectual  standard  of 
these  regions,  and  must  be  taken  into  consideration 
along  with  the  advantage  of  ancient  Roman  cultural 
influences  and  the  neighborhood  of  the  French  in  order 
to  understand  the  leading  part  played  by  the  inhabitants 
of  this  district  hi  the  advance  of  German  civilization. 
The  area  of  swampy  grounds  in  Germany,  however, 
was  so  extensive  that  its  conquest  for  cultivation  took 
a  long  tune  and  is  not  yet  completed. 

The  defence  against  the  inroads  of  the  sea  called  for 
an  equal  persistency.  Floods  continued  to  destroy  the 
works  of  man.  In  the  tenth  century  the  region  of 
Dortrecht  was  still  a  swampy  forest  of  brushwood  and 
was  called  Holtland,  woodland,  the  older  form  of  the 
name  Holland.  Much  as  was  accomplished  during  the 
period  we  are  dealing  with,  i.e.,  before  1300,  the  work  of 
draining  the  marshes  and  swamps,  of  regulating  the 
watercourses,  of  protecting  the  shores  of  the  ocean  and 
the  banks,  is  still  going  on,  supported  by  the  state  and 
with  unproved  modern  methods.  To-day,  however, 
as  of  old  the  community,  die  Deichgenossenschaft,  of 
those  who  built  the  dikes,  and  whose  property  is  pro- 
tected by  them,  look  out  for  their  preservation,  which, 
of  course,  requires  eternal  vigilance,  constant  readiness 
for  active  exposure  to  danger,  and  stubborn  courage. 
Bismarck,  in  his  younger  years,  once  held  the  position 


xvi  CONQUEST  OF  GERMAN  SOIL  165 

of  Deichhauptmann,  Captain  of  the  Dikes,  an  office 
to  which  the  young  nobleman  attended  with  all  the 
conscientiousness  it  required,  a  conscientiousness  which 
distinguished  him  in  all  the  responsibilities  of  his  long 
life.  One-half  of  the  kingdom  of  Holland,  as  is  well 
known,  is  only  held  by  an  unrelenting  war  with  the 
ocean.  The  deep  gulfs  and  bays  of  the  northern  coast, 
among  them  the  Zuider  Zee,  the  Dollart,  and  the  Gulf 
of  the  Jahde,  have  been  eaten  out  of  the  continent  in 
historic  times;  many  islands  have  disappeared,  larger 
ones  and  parts  of  the  old  coastlands  have  been  separated 
into  smaller  islets,  which  we  see  gradually  vanishing  in 
our  own  times.  The  separation  of  Great  Britain  from 
the  continent  took  place  not  so  many  centuries  before 
the  beginning  of  our  era  and  opened  a  road  from  the 
south  for  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the  North  Sea,  making 
the  corner  of  it,  adjacent  to  Germany,  the  meeting-place 
of  southwestern  and  northwestern  tidal  waves.  In 
the  first  centuries  after  Christ,  the  Zuider  Zee  was  still 
an  inland  sea,  called  by  the  Germans  the  Middle  Sea, 
and  having  only  a  small  outlet.  In  the  period  from 
515  to  1282  one  hundred  ravaging  floods  were  counted ; 
and  in  1395  the  last  trace  of  the  broad  neck  of  land 
which  separated  the  ocean  from  the  Zuider  Zee  was  torn 
away,  creating  an  open  gulf.  In  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries  its  waters  made  further  inroads, 
taking  away  the  land  which  separated  four  lakes  from 
each  other,  and  creating  another  gulf,  called  the  Harlem 
Sea  (Harlemer  Meer).  This  was  pumped  out  by  the 
Dutch  between  1840  and  1853,  one  of  the  greatest 
triumphs  of  nineteenth-century  engineering  enterprise. 
The  great  island  of  Borkum  was  torn  into  four  islands 
in  1170  or  1362  ;  two  of  them  were  buried  in  the  North 
Sea  in  1675  and  1743.  In  the  Rhine  delta  the  so-called 


166  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

Hollandsch  Diep  owes  its  origin  to  a  spring  flood  of 
November  18,  1421,  which  engulfed  seventy-two  vil- 
lages. One  of  the  worst  and  most  dismally  famous 
floods  occurred  on  All  Saints  Day,  1570.  It  is  said  that 
on  the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  the  heavy  north- 
west storm  started,  the  warden,  Hans  Petersen,  had 
stuck  his  spade  into  the  newly  completed  dike  which 
connected  the  North  Strand  with  the  Frisian  coast, 
exclaiming:  "Trotz  dir,  du  blanker  Hans,  mein  ist  das 
Land! "  (I  dare  you,  bright  Hans,  mine  is  this  land!), 
using  the  nickname  (blanker  Hans)  which  the  Frisians 
in  genuine  Germanic  fashion  had  given  to  their  daily 
foe,  the  ocean.  Twenty-four  hours  later  the  dike  had 
disappeared,  and  no  less  than  40,000  lives,  it  is  said, 
were  lost.  I  shall  not  go  on  enumerating  the  changing 
fortunes  of  this  war,  which  was,  with  nearly  the  same 
fierceness,  waged  on  the  shores  of  the  Baltic  Sea.  On 
the  whole  the  victory  was  on  the  side  of  man,  but  these 
conditions  must  be  kept  in  mind  in  judging  the  char- 
acter of  the  people  who  inhabit  those  regions,  and  in 
reading  about  Stavoren,  or  Vineta,  or  other  sunken 
cities.  A  German  in  Norderney  or  Helgoland,  probably 
looks  on  the  sea  of  which  this  tale  has  been  told  with 
peculiar  emotions,  and  it  is  not  by  chance  that  the 
romantic  grandeur  of  the  ocean  was  introduced  into 
literature  first  by  a  German  poet,  in  the  Nordseelieder 
of  Heinrich  Heine.  His  relations  to  Hamburg  are  well 
known ;  his  native  city  of  Diisseldorf  is  situated  on  the 
alluvial  plain  of  the  Rhine,  where  the  child  may  have 
seen  the  dikes  with  his  own  eyes  and  have  heard  of  the 
heroic  deeds  of  Johanna  Sebus,  which,  when  the  poet 
was  only  nine  years  old,  filled  all  Germany  with  admi- 
ration and  inspired  Goethe  to  write  his  beautiful  ballad. 
Likewise  the  last  act  of  the  second  part  of  Goethe's 


xvi  CONQUEST  OF  GERMAN  SOIL  167 

"  Faust  "  gains  new  light  with  the  thought  of  the  work 
that  has  been  going  on  in  Germany  for  centuries. 

As  changeable  as  the  coasts  of  the  sea  were  the  beds 
of  the  rivers,  in  which  the  water  seems  to  have  dimin- 
ished, at  least  during  the  summer,  probably  in  conse- 
quence of  the  draining  of  the  swamps  and  lakes  which 
formed  natural  regulating  reservoirs.  A  greater  num- 
ber of  rivers  were  navigable,  and  others  were  so  for  a 
greater  length  of  their  course,  during  the  Middle  Ages 
than  they  are  at  present.  To  the  element  of  erosion, 
which  is  common  to  all  rivers,  we  must  add  in  the  case 
of  the  larger  rivers  this  one  peculiarity,  to  wit,  that  with 
the  exception  of  the  Danube  they  all  run  from  south 
to  north,  so  that  the  lower  parts  of  their  courses  are  still 
covered  with  ice  when  the  upper  parts  begin  to  swell 
from  the  spring  freshets  caused  by  the  melting  of  the 
snow  and  ice.  For  a  long  time  the  danger  of  floods  was 
avoided  by  keeping  away  from  the  banks  of  the  rivers 
and  placing  the  settlements  on  the  slopes,  until  in  time 
the  fertile  soil  at  the  bottom  of  the  valley  was  occupied. 
We  need  not  enter  upon  a  new  description  of  floods  and 
the  changes  worked  thereby.  As  one  example  may  be 
mentioned  the  town  of  Alt-Breisach  on  the  Rhine. 
Originally  built  on  solid  rock,  it  was  situated  on  an 
island,  but  while  still  under  Roman  rule  the  left  arm  of 
the  river  was  filled  out,  so  that  the  town  was  situated 
on  the  left  bank.  During  the  tenth  century  we  find  it 
on  an  island  once  more,  while  in  the  beginning  of  the 
thirteenth  century  it  had  been  for  some  time  on  the 
right  bank,  the  branch  on  that  side  being  filled  with  silt. 
Again  during  the  same  century  it  becomes  an  island, 
until  in  1296  it  becomes  permanently  connected  with 
the  right  bank,  and  is  efficiently  protected  by  dams. 
These  changes  of  the  river  courses  have  naturally 


168  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

brought  about  many  curious  boundary  problems  where 
this  unstable  element  has  been  chosen  as  the  dividing 
line. 

While  this  work  of  conquering  and  securing  the  soil 
for  cultivation  was  going  on  in  all  parts  of  Germany, 
the  great  mass  of  the  population  was  intently  bound  up 
in  its  own  business,  the  importance  of  which  we  can 
well  understand  from  what  has  been  said.  Thus  occu- 
pied with  themselves,  the  different  tribes  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  develop  their  own  peculiarities.  When  slowly 
the  primitive  houses  were  replaced  by  more  spacious 
buildings,  each  tribe  developed  its  own  style  of  archi- 
tecture, which  still  enables  us  to  distinguish  among  the 
five  different  types  of  peasant  house  the  tribe  to  which 
the  original  settlers  belonged.  Gradually,  however, 
the  prevalent  type  of  a  region  absorbed  the  others,  so 
that  now  the  north  of  East-Albingian  Germany  shows 
the  Saxon,  the  south  the  Frankish,  type.  Best  known 
outside  of  Germany  is  the  Alpine  type,  represented  by 
the  Swiss  cottage  so  often  reproduced  in  pictures  and 
toys.  It  is  in  the  development  of  these  types  of  farm- 
houses, which  were  transferred  to  the  cities,  and  of 
castles,  that  the  German  artistic  mind  has  created  an 
entirely  original  architecture.  Different  tribal  types 
can  also  be  distinguished  in  the  plans  of  the  villages 
and  the  distribution  of  land. 

If  we  consider  this  work,  accomplished  by  the  German 
on  his  own  soil,  if  we  compare  the  Germany  described 
by  Tacitus  with  the  country  that  supports  sixty-five 
million  inhabitants  to-day,  we  feel  the  weight  of 
Schiller's  momentous  words  in  "  Tell "  :  — 

"This  soil  has  been  created  by  ourselves, 
By  the  hard  labor  of  our  hands :  we've  changed 
The  giant  forest,  that  was  erst  the  haunt 


xvi  CONQUEST  OF  GERMAN  SOIL  169 

Of  savage  bears,  into  a  home  for  man. 
We've  killed  the  dragon's  brood,  that  wont 
To  rise,  distent  with  venom,  from  the  swamps ; 
Rent  the  thick  misty  canopy  that  hung 
Its  dreary  vapors  on  the  dreary  waste ; 
Blasted  the  solid  rock ;  o'er  the  abyss 
Thrown  the  firm  bridge  for  the  wayfaring  man." 

(Th.  Martin's  transit 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE   COLONIZATION   OF  THE   EAST 

MUCH  as  this  energetic  work  in  extending  the  pro- 
ductive lands  and  the  unproved  methods  of  agriculture 
had  increased  the  resources  of  the  country,  the  time 
came  when  the  boundaries  became  too  narrow  for  the 
ever-increasing  population,  and  the  conquest  of  the  East, 
i.e.,  of  the  old  Germanic  country  east  of  the  Elbe,  began. 
This  was  not  a  conquest  by  warriors  only,  ruling  over  a 
subdued  nation  of  working  slaves,  nor  a  conquest  led 
by  the  head  of  the  nation,  but  one  accomplished  more 
by  the  plough  than  by  the  sword.  In  many  instances 
the  Slav  inhabitants  were  not  destroyed,  nor  forcibly 
driven  away,  and  even  to-day  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood of  the  capital  of  the  German  Empire,  in  the 
Spreewald  near  Berlin,  there  is  a  district  in  which  the 
language  of  the  Wends  is  still  spoken,  where  for  a  thou- 
sand years  the  Slavs  have  lived  among  their  German 
neighbors,  peacefully  and  without  friction,  a  phenome- 
non which  invites  thoughtful  comparison  with  the  con- 
ditions of  Prussian  Poland.  These  instances  of  humane 
treatment  may  be  offset,  of  course,  by  others  of  cruel 
warfare. 

There  was  plenty  of  land  waiting  for  the  plough ;  wood- 
lands were  to  be  cleared  and  swamps  to  be  drained. 
Mostly  the  task  of  colonization  was  intrusted  to 
locatores,  contractors,  who  undertook  to  procure  a 
sufficient  number  of  settlers,  and  in  turn  received  a  con- 

170 


CHAP,  xvn    THE  COLONIZATION  OF  THE   EAST  171 

siderable  portion  of  the  land  and  the  position  of  head 
of  the  new  community  under  the  rule  of  the  prince  or 
count.  But  often  his  services  were  dispensed  with. 
A  short  notice  from  a  contemporaneous  chronicle  will 
give  a  typical  example  of  the  procedure.  This  says  of 
certain  settlements  of  1143 :  "Adolf  of  Holstein  began 
to  rebuild  the  fortress  of  Seegeberg,  and  surrounded  it 
with  a  wall ;  but  since  the  lands  on  which  the  Slavs 
had  resided  were  devastated,  he  sent  messengers  to 
Flanders,  Holland,  Utrecht,  Westfalia,  and  Frisia,  and 
invited  those  who  suffered  from  want  of  arable  land  to 
come  with  their  families  to  settle  in  the  fertile  country 
which  was  rich  in  fish,  meat,  and  woods.  On  this  invita- 
tion an  innumerable  mass  of  the  different  tribes  started 
and  came  to  the  Count  Adolf  to  Wagria  to  settle  in  the 
country.  The  count  rebuilt  the  fortress  of  Rone,  and 
founded  a  city  there  and  a  mark.  The  Slavs  who  lived 
in  the  villages  of  the  neighborhood  moved  away. 
Then  the  Saxons  came  and  lived  there."  The  monas- 
tic orders  which  took  the  principal  part  in  this  work 
of  eastern  colonization  were  the  Cistercians  and  the 
Premonstratensians. 

Although  the  first  advances  in  this  movement  were 
naturally  made  by  those  nearest  to  the  frontiers,  all  the 
German  tribes  took  part  in  the  work  of  more  or  less 
peaceful  colonization.  Only  in  its  beginnings  was  the 
expansion  of  the  Germans  in  the  frontier  districts,  the 
Marken,  under  special  royal  officers,  the  Markgrafen, 
as  a  defensive  measure  against  the  Slavs,  and  the  inva- 
sions of  the  Mongolians.  Thus  the  Markgrafen  of  the 
Eastmark,  on  the  Danube,  and  of  the  Northmark,  on 
the  lower  Elbe,  were  the  pioneers  in  this  work.  But 
its  principal  part  was  accomplished  later,  after  the 
emperors,  especially  Otto  III,  had  begun  to  neglect  the 


172  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

German  interests.  Indeed,  Otto  under  the  influence  of 
St.  Adalbert,  a  Czech,  strengthened  the  Slavs  by  a  most 
un-German  policy,  so  that  not  only  the  Poles,  but  also 
the  Magyars,  owe  him  their  national  existence.  Later, 
when  the  extreme  East  was  conquered  by  the  Teutonic 
order,  sent  there  by  the  Pope  at  the  call  of  the  Poles,  on 
a  crusade  against  the  Prussian  heathen,  we  hear  again 
of  bloody  and  stubborn  warfare.  But  here,  likewise,  the 
actual,  peaceful  conquest  for  German  civilization  and 
Christianity  soon  took  the  place  of  bloodshed.  Still 
the  settlement  by  the  warlike  knights  has  not  been  with- 
out lasting  influence  on  the  great  landholders,  who  more 
than  anywhere  else  in  Germany  lorded  it  over  their 
villains,  and  who,  more  than  all  other  German  aristo- 
crats, have  preserved  the  character  of  the  feudal  lord 
in  its  modern  unpleasant  sense.  In  the  northern  part 
of  Germany  east  of  the  Elbe  the  largest  landed  estates 
are  still  to  be  found,  and  their  owners  have  a  strong 
influence  on  the  shaping  of  German,  especially  Prussian, 
policy,  placing  their  agrarian  and  class  interests  in  the 
foreground. 

Wherever  swampy  soil  had  to  be  cultivated  or  allu- 
vial lands  had  to  be  protected  against  floods,  Flemings 
and  Hollanders  were  induced  by  favorable  offers  to 
settle,  and  founded  communities  under  their  own  laws. 
But  not  only  did  German  nobles,  bishops,  and  cities 
transplant  Germans  from  the  western  districts,  but  as 
they  progressed,  far-seeing  Slav  and  Hungarian  rulers 
began  to  see  that  it  would  take  German  peasants  to 
make  their  countries  really  valuable,  and  that  German 
culture  was  needed  to  uplift  their  subjects.  German 
colonists  went  into  Poland  and  Bohemia  at  the  invita- 
tion of  the  kings;  Franks  from  the  Mosel  settled  in 
Transylvania,  where  under  the  mistaken  name  of 


xvn  THE  COLONIZATION  OF  THE  EAST  173 

Saxons  they  now  defend  their  nationality  and  their 
language  and  their  German  culture,  to  which  they  have 
clung  with  wonderful  tenacity. 

By  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  this  immense 
work  had  been  accomplished ;  from  the  Vistula  to  the 
Scheldt  in  the  north,  from  the  Rhone  to  the  Drave, 
south  of  the  Danube,  from  the  Alps  to  the  North  and 
Baltic  seas,  the  wilderness  had  been  changed  into  fertile 
lands  and  rich  pastures,  occupied  by  the  descendants  of 
those  Germans  who  at  one  time  were  confined  to  the 
small  oblong  between  the  Elbe  and  the  Rhine,  between 
the  Main  and  the  North  Sea.  Thousands  and  thousands 
crossed  the  boundaries  in  the  course  of  the  centuries, 
and  perished  righting  with  or  against  the  Roman  army ; 
millions,  lost  to  the  German  race,  helped  to  build  up  the 
Romance  nations.  Those  who  remained  on  their  native 
soil  learned  the  great  lesson  that  not  by  war,  but  by 
peaceful,  persistent  industry,  are  the  greatest  conquests 
accomplished.  Once  in  the  history  of  our  Western 
civilization  has  a  similar  work  been  successfully  achieved; 
the  cultivation  of  the  great  Mississippi  valley  by  the 
common  effort  of  all  Germanic  nations,  in  which  the 
descendants  of  those  mediaeval  pioneers  had  no  small 
share. 

In  considering  the  achievements  of  the  mediaeval 
Germans  it  seems  fortunate  that,  under  wise  leadership 
or  from  natural  instinct,  they  preferred  the  open  field 
to  the  schoolroom,  the  plough  to  the  pen.  Whether  they 
might  have  combined  the  two  is  hard  to  tell,  but  this 
much  is  certain,  "that  those  thousand  years  of  living 
on  their  own  soil,  of  intimate  contact  with  nature,  of 
preserving  and  developing  their  ancient  customs,  hav- 
ing the  centre  of  their  existence  in  their  families,  whence 
it  is  diverted  only  too  easily  in  city  life,  have  saved  to 


174         HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION    CHAP,  xvn 

the  German  people  their  youthful  vigor,  which  has 
helped  them  through  the  unspeakable  misery  of  their 
political  conditions,  let  them  overcome  the  horrors  of 
the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and,  in  spite  of  a  long  history, 
assures  them  of  their  position  as  a  nation  of  youthful 
strength  among  the  world  powers."  Though  in  the 
finer  externals  of  life,  on  the  artistic-aesthetic  side  they 
may  have  been  surpassed  by  nations  who  submitted 
more  readily  to  Roman  and  Romance  influences,  this 
is  not  too  high  a  price  for  the  preservation  of  health  and 
personality.  It  is  even  a  question  whether  we  may  not 
agree  with  the  modern  writer  who  claims  that  modern 
science  should  reverence  as  its  intellectual  ancestors, 
instead  of  the  so-called  humanists,  those  unscholarly 
observers  of  nature,  the  collectors  and  describers  of 
herbs,  who  by  the  practice  of  their  eyes  found  out  the 
natural  relationships  of  plants  long  before  the  scholars 
began  to  construct  their  scientific  systems. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE    FOUNDING    OF    THE    CITIES)    CASTLES,    BURGHERS, 

PEASANTS 

THE  improvement  and  extension  of  husbandry  and 
the  work  of  colonization  had  a  direct  influence  on  the 
founding  of  the  cities.  Production  soon  exceeded  the 
needs  of  the  peasant  and  his  landlord.  This  caused  the 
demand  for  markets  where  the  products  could  be  ex- 
changed. On  the  other  hand,  the  necessity  for  being 
continually  prepared,  at  least  during  a  long  period,  for 
the  invasion  of  enemies  called  the  castles  into  existence. 
Out  of  the  markets  and  their  assemblies  of  many  people, 
seeking  the  protection  of  the  king's  and  bishop's  resi- 
dences, and  of  the  castles,  the  cities  resulted  as  a  natural 
growth. 

We  have  had  occasion  to  point  out  the  aversion  of  the 
early  German  from  life  in  cities.  Even  the  conquered 
cities  of  the  Romans  were  for  a  long  tune  left  to  decay. 
Perhaps  nothing  better  shows  how  lightly  they  esteemed 
the  customs  and  the  civilization  of  the  great  empire  they 
had  destroyed.  As  late  as  the  tenth  century,  at  the 
end  of  the  Karling  period,  not  more  than  twenty-seven 
cities  could  be  counted  in  Germany,  and  most  of  these 
were  Roman  foundations ;  among  them  Koln  was  the 
most  important  for  a  long  time.  Legally  no  cities 
were  known  before  the  eleventh  century. 

The  colonization  period  gave  a  great  impulse  to  the 
increase  of  the  cities.  As  we  know,  the  occupation  of 

175 


176  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

the  deserted  German  settlements  had  gone  on  in  a 
quiet,  peaceful  way.  But  after  the  fourth  century 
Asia  began  to  send  out  Mongolian  tribes,  such  as  the 
Avarians,  the  Huns,  and  the  Magyars  or  Hungarians, 
who  hi  the  end  stirred  the  peaceable,  quiet,  slow-moving 
Slavs  out  of  their  indolence  and  forced  the  sword  into 
then*  hands.  They  became  warriors  of  some  account, 
at  last,  under  the  leadership  of  one  Samo  of  Koln,  a 
Frankish  trader,  who  united  a  number  of  Slavic  tribes 
and  gamed  a  victory  over  the  Avarians  to  whom  they 
had  hitherto  been  forced  to  pay  a  tribute.  Out  of 
gratitude  he  was  made  king.  Once  aroused  from  their 
quiet,  the  Slavs  soon  took  the  offensive  against  the 
German  frontier  districts.  But  when  the  Hungarians, 
the  third  large  Mongolian  tribe  that  had  broken  forth 
from  the  wilds  of  inner  Asia,  settled  on  the  lower 
Danube,  the  border  wars  of  the  Germans  and  Slavs  were 
interrupted  by  the  regular  Magyar  invasions  already 
mentioned.  The  Germans  were  so  little  able  to  cope 
with  these  rough  riders  and  their  unusual  mode  of  fight- 
ing that  they  were  compelled  to  pledge  themselves  to 
pay  a  tribute.  This  was  paid  to  gain  tune  for  the 
evolution  of  a  new  military  art  suitable  to  the  new  condi- 
tions. Besides  the  formation  of  a  strong  cavalry,  with 
which  we  have  become  familiar  in  a  former  chapter, 
King  Henry  I,  in  pursuance  of  this  policy,  began  the 
construction  of  strong  castles  everywhere  in  the  frontier 
districts.  In  the  immediate  neighborhood  were  settled 
the  men  who  had  to  provide  for  the  needs  of  the  garri- 
son and  who  were  obliged  to  hurry  inside  of  the  walls  of 
the  castle  at  the  first  call  for  defence.  It  did  not  take 
long  before  other  people  found  it  to  their  advantage  to 
reside  under  the  protection  of  these  fortified  places 
(Burgen) ;  and  so  the  inhabitants  of  the  cities  were  after 


xvin  THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  CITIES  177 

them  called  Burger,  burghers.  The  old  ethelings  already 
had  their  burg,  Gothic  baurgs,  the  only  word  Ulfilas 
could  find  to  translate  the  word  city  or  town  in  the 
Bible.  The  name  Burger,  while  still  used  in  distinc- 
tion from  peasant  and  nobleman,  has  extended  its 
meaning  to  comprise  all  citizens  of  the  state,  thus  show- 
ing us  where  modern  civil  rights  have  their  origin. 

With  the  rise  of  Chivalry  and  the  increased  power  of 
the  vassals,  the  erection  of  castles  in  the  interior  on 
spots  that  offered  commanding  positions,  or  on  natural 
or  artificial  islands  where  surrounding  water  provided 
protection,  became  more  and  more  frequent,  hi  spite  of 
the  fact  that  this  meant  an  encroachment  on  the  royal 
prerogative.  At  last  the  west  of  Germany  had  one 
castle  for  every  German  square  mile.  At  first  places  of 
defence  in  the  times  of  the  Fehderecht,  the  right  of  pri- 
vate war,  they  became  later  the  means  of  keeping  the 
surrounding  country  hi  subjection. 

Having  once  begun,  the  building  of  cities  kept  step 
with  the  expanding  cultivation  of  the  soil.  The  kings' 
and  bishops'  palaces,  castles,  monasteries,  and  old 
Roman  cities  did  not  remain  the  only  places  that  in- 
vited the  builders  of  cities.  As  the  markets  had  from 
the  beginning  formed  the  nuclei  of  the  cities,  so  com- 
mercial considerations  decided  more  and  more  the 
choice  of  their  location.  They  were  built  in  the  centre 
of  rich  and  productive  territory,  on  places  favorable  for 
traffic,  on  a  large  navigable  river  or  on  the  shores  of  the 
ocean,  with  a  safe  harbor  or  places  convenient  for  land- 
ing, near  a  ford  or  along  the  great  highways,  which, 
originally  an  extension  of  Roman  beginnings,  now  trav- 
ersed the  country,  though  not  in  a  large  number,  from 
east  to  west  and  from  south  to  north,  connecting  the 
river  valleys;  places  where  two  or  three  highways 


178  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

crossed  each  other  were  especially  preferred,  and  mines 
and  salt  works  also  afforded  an  inducement  for  loca- 
tion. As  the  burghers  took  their  part  in  the  German- 
ization  of  the  East,  so  we  find  that  the  period  of 
cultivation  and  colonization  by  the  peasant  is  also  the 
period  of  the  foundation  of  the  cities ;  both  are  finished 
about  the  same  time,  and  there  are  not  many  cities  in 
Germany  which  were  founded  later  than  the  four- 
teenth century. 

Both  the  colonial  movement  and  the  foundation  of 
the  cities  were  of  the  greatest  advantage  for  the  social 
and  economical  condition  of  the  peasant.  Wherever 
there  was  oppression  or  poverty,  the  new  eastern  coun- 
try, or  the  cities  with  their  broader  right,  offered  a 
better  chance,  and  in  order  to  keep  the  ploughman  on  his 
land  the  landlord  had  to  concede  humane  treatment. 
In  earlier  times  personal  service  at  the  manor  or  court, 
or  in  the  wars,  gave  the  peasant  a  frequently  coveted 
opportunity  to  rise  sometimes  to  the  highest  ranks. 

During  the  thirteenth  century  most  peasants  held 
their  lands  in  hereditary  lease,  as  we  should  say,  and 
this  period,  taken  all  together,  afforded  the  German 
peasant  the  best  times  he  has  ever  seen.  But  after  all 
the  peasant  was  not  free,  and  soon  economical  conditions 
caused  nobility  and  landholders  to  get  as  much  money 
out  of  him  as  possible.  At  the  same  time  the  cities 
were  closed  against  rural  immigration  and  the  monopoly 
of  the  municipal  craft-guilds  led  to  laws  forbidding  the 
practice  of  any  craft  or  trade  outside.  Thus  the  Ger- 
man peasant  began  to  sink  into  desolate  serfdom  at  the 
same  time  when  his  brethren  in  England,  in  Switzer- 
land, and  on  the  coasts  of  the  North  Sea  secured  or 
regained  their  freedom. 

It  is  often  said  that  slavery  was  the  original  state  of 


xvni  THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  CITIES  179 

the  common  people.  As  far  as  the  Germanic  nations  are 
concerned,  this  is  a  mistake.  On  the  contrary,  freedom 
had  been  the  birthright  of  every  German  from  the  time 
he  appears  in  history.  A  number  of  causes,  economical 
and  others,  led  to  the  loss  of  the  rights  which  he  has  not 
all  reconquered,  even  to-day. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

MINING  AND   MONEY 

As  a  part  of  the  exploitation  of  the  soil,  we  may 
consider  mining,  which,  we  have  seen,  forms  a  part  of 
German  economy  included  in  the  ownership  of  land 
taken  over  from  the  Kelts  of  pre-Germanic  tunes, 
and  changed  later  into  a  royal  prerogative.  We  are 
told  that  the  Romans  worked  mines  in  the  Black 
Forest  and  in  the  Vosges  Mountains.  The  oldest 
mines  were  the  salt  mines.  The  rise  of  the  old  German 
mining  industry  may  be  dated  from  the  tenth  century, 
when  silver  was  found  for  the  first  time  in  the  Harz 
Mountains  near  the  city  of  Goslar.  Mining  in  the  Ore 
Mountains  (Erzgebirge)  began  about  1175,  near  Frei- 
berg. The  first  mining  fief  was  given  in  1125.  In 
1150  we  read  of  boring  works  near  Goslar.  The  miners 
formed  the  first  trade  associations.  They  preserved 
many  of  their  old  traditions  and  only  lately  have  begun 
to  break  loose  from  mediaeval  bonds.  The  Germans 
became  the  providers  of  metal  for  all  Europe,  and 
thereby,  in  a  later  period,  made  their  great  bankers  the 
leaders  in  the  commercial  world.  Their  technical 
knowledge  was  greatly  perfected,  and  as  they  experienced 
special  difficulties  in  the  mines  around  Freiberg,  this 
city,  now  the  home  of  a  famous  mining  academy, 
became  the  centre  of  the  greatest  progress.  It  was  here 
where,  at  a  much  later  date,  Abraham  G.  Werner,  the 
teacher  of  Alexander  von  Humboldt,  established 

180 


CHAP,  xix  MINING  AND  MONEY  181 

geology  as  an  independent  science,  teaching  the  law  of 
stratification.  German  miners  were  sought  the  world 
over  to  teach  their  art,  which,  after  an  interruption 
caused  by  the  general  decay  of  German  life,  to  be  treated 
of  later,  has  reconquered  its  old  leading  place  in  scien- 
tific mining,  so  that  there  is  hardly  any  country  to-day 
in  which  its  first  beginnings  cannot  be  traced  back  to 
Germany. 

The  production  of  gold  and  silver  naturally  had  a 
great  influence  on  the  development  of  finance,  espe- 
cially as  the  discovery  and  production  of  the  greater 
supply  came  at  the  same  tune  as  the  general  commercial 
and  industrial  rise  of  the  cities.  The  use  of  money 
had,  in  spite  of  all  limitations,  never  entirely  disappeared 
even  at  the  height  of  the  agrarian  period,  when  barter 
was  the  means  of  exchange.  A  gold  standard  had  been 
established  by  Chlodowech,  who  ordained  that  seventy- 
two  shillings  (solidi)  should  be  coined  out  of  one  pound 
of  gold.  Later  this  number  was  increased  to  eighty- 
four.  Pippin  introduced  the  silver  standard.  At  the 
time  of  Charles  the  Great,  twenty  shillings  were  coined 
out  of  one  pound  of  silver.  This  is  the  English  practice 
to-day,  surviving  from  that  time.  The  word  "sterling " 
is  also  a  relic  of  mediaeval  commerce,  being  an  abbre- 
viation of  Easterling  (Osterling},  referring  to  the  home 
of  the  Hansa.  Still  more  directly  does  the  word 
"dollar"  point  to  German  mining,  its  stem-word 
'Taler'  being  abbreviated  from  Joachimstaler,  the 
name  of  the  mine  that  furnished  the  silver  from  which 
it  was  first  coined.  This,  however,  belongs  to  a  later 
period.  When  the  cities  had  become  the  principal 
centres  of  national  life,  we  find  that  the  south  of  Ger- 
many maintained  the  gold  standard,  while  in  the  north 
the  silver  standard  ruled  supreme. 


182          HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION     CHAP,  xix 

With  the  increase  of  prosperity  and  capitalism,  the 
trade  in  silver  bullion  helped  to  take  the  money  trade 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  Jews ;  and  later  we  find  that  the 
richest  commercial  houses,  like  the  Fuggers,  Hoch- 
stetters,  and  others,  prefer  banking  to  trade  in  mer- 
chandise. The  general  lack  of  money  and  the  feoffing 
of  the  regal  prerogatives  showed  its  baneful  influence 
on  the  coinage,  as  well  as  in  other  respects.  Every  city, 
every  small  territorial  lord,  had  an  individual  coinage, 
and  as  tunes  grew  worse  the  money  deteriorated  more 
and  more,  especially  when  the  coining  began  to  be 
farmed  out.  In  the  seventeenth  century  came  the 
so-called  Kipper  and  Wipper,  who  made  the  deteriora- 
tion of  money  then1  business ;  cheap  metals  were  taken, 
even  lead,  and  good  coins  were  melted  to  make  bad 
ones  out  of  them,  or  the  good  ones  were  exported  to 
exchange  them  for  bad  money.  Of  course  an  niter- 
national  standard  was  necessary  for  the  trade ;  and  the 
"guilder"  of  Florence  was  generally  adopted,  whence  the 
name  "florin."  The  florins  of  Koln  and  Regensburg 
set  the  standard  in  Germany  for  a  long  time. 


CHAPTER  XX 

SOME  OF  THE  GREATER  EMPERORS 

ALTHOUGH  the  interests  of  the  emperors  were  prin- 
cipally centred  in  Italy  and  the  splendors  of  the 
imperial  crown,  they  still  had  their  influence  on  Ger- 
many. Indeed,  every  one  of  them  who  ruled  over  the 
rising  nation,  from  Henry  I  to  Frederick  II,  affords  the 
example  of  a  good  ruler,  industriously  and  conscien- 
tiously performing  the  duties  of  his  office  as  he  saw 
them.  While  some  of  them  saw  their  duty  right  at 
home,  the  trouble  with  the  most  ambitious  and  most 
powerful  personalities  among  them  was  that  they  felt 
themselves  more  in  the  service  of  the  idea  of  the  uni- 
versal empire  and  took  more  interest  hi  securing  their 
hold  on  Italy  than  was  good  for  their  German  affairs. 
We  must  not  forget,  moreover,  that  the  conception  of 
the  royal  dignity  was  not  the  same  as  in  modern  times. 
It  was  considered  as  a  personal  property,  and  the  priv- 
ileges of  the  office  could  be  disposed  of  at  the  will 
of  the  monarch.  All  the  emperors  left  then-  impression, 
more  or  less,  on  the  development  of  German  history, 
but  some  personalities  stand  forth  prominently  above 
the  rest,  and  survive  more  vividly  in  the  memory  of 
posterity  than  others.  Thus  one  of  the  greatest, 
Henry  VI,  is  not  appreciated  as  much  as  he  deserves, 
probably  on  account  of  his  early  death. 

The  real  founder  of  the  national  German  state  was 
Henry  I,  the  first  Saxon  king  of  Germany,  who  suc- 

183 


184  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

ceeded  in  bringing  the  tribal  duchies  into  a  federal 
unity.  Although  Charles  the  Great  was  a  more  brill- 
iant figure,  he  does  not  belong  to  Germany  alone,  and, 
thorough  German  as  he  was,  the  German  part  of  his 
realm  was  small  as  compared  with  the  West-Frankish 
territory,  yet  his  conception  of  the  Roman  crown  lifted 
him,  the  " universal"  sovereign,  above  all  nationality. 
Still  the  glory  of  his  name  has  for  a  long  time  furnished 
an  ideal  for  his  German  successors,  who  worshipped  at 
his  shrine,  and  more  than  one  had  his  tomb  opened  to 
gain  inspiration  from  his  relics. 

In  many  ways  comparable  to  Karl  was  Otto  I,  who 
renewed  the  imperial  dignity,  but  made  it  distinctly 
an  adjunct  to  the  German  kingdom.  Under  him  the 
power  of  the  emperors  was  firmly  established,  and  was 
reasserted  with  varying  energy  by  his  successors  until 
Henry  IV.  This  king,  whose  father  had  deposed  and 
enthroned  popes,  as  he  saw  fit,  furnished  the  world  at 
Canossa  with  the  spectacle  of  the  greatest  humilia- 
tion to  which  any  German  ruler  ever  submitted.  The 
scene  at  Canossa,  of  which  mention  has  already  been 
made,  is  one  of  those  events  of  such  lasting  influence  on 
the  soul  of  the  nation  as  to  make  them  living  forces  in  its 
development  for  centuries ;  the  word  "  Canossa"  is  one 
of  deep  significance  for  the  living  generation  of  Germans. 
Henry  IV,  no  matter  what  his  faults  were,  lives  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people,  and  has  gone  down  in  German 
tradition  as  a  man  who  suffered  great  wrongs.  Of 
late  he  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  powerful 
personalities  that  ever  sat  on  the  German  throne. 

The  favorites  of  the  romanticists  are  the  emperors 
from  the  House  of  Hohenstaufen,  whose  last  descend- 
ant, at  the  age  of  fifteen  years,  met  such  a  tragical 
death  through  papal  treachery.  The  greatest  splendor, 


xx  SOME   OF  THE   GREATER  EMPERORS  185 

however,  surrounds  Frederick  I,  Barbarossa,  the  Red- 
beard.  Six  times  he  crossed  the  Alps.  His  conflict 
with  the  Pope,  on  whose  side  we  find  France  and  the 
Italian  cities,  ended  with  Frederick's  victory.  His 
greatest  vassal,  Henry  the  Lion,  the  Guelph,  who  had 
failed-  his  liege-lord  in  the  hour  of  need,  was  humiliated. 
Since  the  days  of  the  great  Karl,  who  in  fact  was  his 
model,  no  emperor  had  possessed  such  glory  in  the  West 
and  East.  As  an  external  manifestation  of  his  achieve- 
ments, Barbarossa  found  in  the  knighting  of  his  sons 
Frederick  and  Henry,  the  occasion  for  the  grandest  and 
most  distinguished  festival  seen  by  the  Middle  Ages, 
the  acme  of  German  chivalry.  Invitations  had  gone 
out  a  year  before;  and  at  Whitsuntide,  1184,  there 
assembled  on  the  plain  near  Mainz,  on  both  banks  of 
the  Rhine,  over  seventy  thousand  people  of  knightly 
birth  alone.  The  crowning  of  his  romantic  career 
was  his  crusade,  which,  in  spite  of  his  seventy  years,  he 
undertook  after  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem  by  Saladin. 
After  having  sent  terror  to  the  heart  of  the  Mohammedan 
world  by  the  conquest  of  Ikonium,  he  met  his  death  in 
the  river  Saleph.  Under  Frederick  I  the  German  cities 
took  a  great  step  in  advance  towards  independence 
from  the  territorial  lords ;  he  fostered  knighthood  and 
tried  to  find  support  in  a  national  clergy. 

Although  more  of  an  Italian  than  a  German,  Frederick 
II  must  not  be  omitted,  being  one  of  the  most  interesting 
personalities  hi  history.  As  a  prote'ge'  of  the  Pope,  he 
owed  his  crown  to  the  French  victory  in  the  battle  of 
Bouvines  in  1214.  Frederick  towered  high  above  his 
contemporaries;  he  was  the  first  of  the  great  person- 
alities, of  the  " overmen"  of  the  Renaissance,  and  in  his 
ways  of  thinking  was  rather  modern  than  medieval. 
As  a  German  king  he  gave  away  the  last  prerogatives 


186  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

of  royalty,  and  completed  the  emasculation  of  the 
central  power.  After  his  reign  the  German  Empire 
was  hardly  more  than  a  name,  a  tradition,  as  it  were. 
Although  emperors  were  still  elected,  there  followed  a 
whole  generation  who  would  not  acknowledge  their 
existence.  After  this  period,  which  history  calls  the 
Interregnum,  we  see  an  entirely  different  type  of  men 
on  the  German  throne ;  for  every  one  of  them  the  royal 
power  meant  in  the  first  place  an  opportunity  to  in- 
crease his  family  possessions. 

With  the  name  of  Frederick  II,  the  last  true  German 
emperor,  was  first  connected  in  the  popular  mind  the 
Kaisersage,  the  legend,  rooted  in  ancient  Indo-Euro- 
pean lore,  which  tells  of  the  hero  who  is  sleeping  in  the 
depths  of  a  mountain,  whence  he  will  come  forth  at  the 
proper  time  to  lead  his  people  to  salvation.  Later  it 
was  transferred  to  the  legendary  accounts  of  Charles 
the  Great,  until  finally  it  was  Frederick,  the  Redbeard, 
of  whom  the  people  said  that  he  was  sleeping  in  the 
Kyffhauser  Mountain  in  Thuringia ;  his  long  red 
beard  had  grown  through  the  marble  table ;  every 
hundred  years  he  woke  up  and  sent  a  page  to  see 
whether  the  ravens  were  still  hovering  above  the  moun- 
tain. Whenever  the  boy  said  yes,  the  emperor  had  to  go 
to  sleep  for  another  hundred  years.  More  and  more 
there  were  embodied  into  this  tale  all  the  memories 
of  past  German  glory,  all  the  woes  of  the  torn  national 
heart,  all  the  longing  of  the  people,  down  trodden,  yet 
conscious  of  strength,  for  national  unity,  for  a  brighter 
future.  He  who  knows  German  history  of  the  last 
century,  who  has  heard  the  Kyffhauser  echo  with  the 
calls  of  the  expectant  nation,  who  has  seen  or  read  how 
the  gray-haired  founder  of  the  New  Germany  was 
greeted  again  and  again  as  the  old  Barbarossa,  who  had 


xx  SOME   OF  THE  GREATER  EMPERORS  187 

at  last  burst  forth  from  his  tomb  in  the  mountain, 
knows  that  this  myth  has  been  as  much  of  an  active 
historical  force  as  any  real  facts,  as  the  memory  of 
Canossa,  indeed,  as  the  mediaeval  fiction  of  the  Roman 
Empire  itself. 


BOOK   THE   THIRD 

RISE    AND    FALL    OF    THE    GERMAN    NATION 

1400-1650 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE   RISE   OF  THE   CITIES 
I 

Commerce.     Craft.    Arts 

WE  have  already  had  occasion  to  notice  the  aversion 
of  the  Germans  to  city  life,  which  led  them  even  to 
abandon  the  old  Roman  cities  to  ruin  and  settle  out- 
side of  them.  But  when  almost  all  the  land  had  been 
brought  under  cultivation,  and  room  for  expansion 
became  scarce;  when  more  rational  methods  of  hus- 
bandry had  increased  the  products  of  the  soil,  and  grow- 
ing wealth,  the  needs  of  the  community, — a  change  from 
the  old  habits  was  inevitable.  The  exchange  of  over- 
production favored  the  development  of  numerous 
markets,  which  were  placed,  as  has  been  shown  in  a 
former  chapter,  under  the  protection  of  the  castles  or 
the  palaces  of  kings  and  bishops,  or  in  places  which  had 
a  geographical  situation  favorable  to  the  assembling  of 
people  or  offered  other  advantages  to  commerce. 

Although  commerce  was  the  cause,  if  not  always  of 
the  foundation,  at  least  of  the  growth,  of  the  cities 
throughout  mediaeval  and  even  into  modern  times, 
nevertheless  agriculture  formed  a  most  important 
element  in  their  life,  and  for  a  long  time  the  population 
of  the  cities  raised  their  own  provisions. 

Commerce  was  originally  not  popular  with  the 
Germans,  although  a  few  tribes  are  mentioned  as  send- 

191 


192  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

ing  out  traders.  In  Frankish  times  trade  was  carried 
on  by  Italians,  espefially  Lombards,  by  Slavs,  or,  as 
was  said  at  that  time,  Wends,  and  principally  by  Jews. 
The  latter  had  already  appeared  in  Germany  in  the 
Roman  period,  and  had  outlasted  all  the  changes  of 
troublous  times.  The  Jewish  community  of  Koln^  for 
instance,  can  point  to  an  uninterrupted  history  begin- 
ning with  the  year  321,  while  the  Jews  of  Worms 
claim  to  have  settled  there  as  early  as  any  in  Germany. 
The  Jews  enjoyed  the  special  protection  of  the  emper- 
ors, which  shows  that  they  were  considered  as  strangers, 
and  in  return  had  to  pay  a  special  tax,  which  formed  one 
of  the  royal  resources.  In  time,  however,  the  settlers 
who  did  not  have  sufficient  land  to  get  satisfactory 
results  turned  to  commerce  as  a  more  profitable  occu- 
pation; the  travelling  salesmen  began  to  make  their 
permanent  homes  at  the  market-places,  until  gradually 
residents  took  the  place  of  transients,  at  least  for  the 
regular  daily  business. 

A  lively  inland  commerce  began  to  grow  up  along  the 
ancient  highways;  and  together  with  the  German  col- 
onization of  the  East,  or  rather  in  advance  of  it,  the 
trader  found  his  way  into  the  country  of  the  Slav. 
The  islands  of  the  Baltic  Sea  and  Scandinavia  became 
another  lucrative  field  for  his  commercial  enterprises ; 
and  the  East  and  North  became  commercially  and 
industrially  dependent  on  Germany  for  centuries  to 
come,  while  in  the  far  East  the  cities  of  the  Teutonic 
Order  joined  in  extending  their  commerce  into  the 
interior  of  Poland  and  Russia.  Under  the  influence  of 
these  commercial  relations  the  German  settlements 
in  the  Baltic  provinces  of  Russia  were  founded,  of 
which  the  knightly  order  of  the  Brethren  of  the  Sword 
(Schwertbriider)  formed  an  advance  guard.  Here,  how- 


xxi  THE   RISE   OP  THE   CITIES  193 

ever,  the  whole  country  did  not  become  Germanized,  as 
was  the  case  of  west  of  the  Vistula,  and  the  Germans 
comprised  only  the  leading  classes,  say,  one-tenth  of  the 
population. 

Oriental  commerce,  which  received  a  new  impulse 
from  the  Crusades,  was  in  the  control  of  the  Italian 
cities.  From  Italy  the  routes  of  commerce  lay  not  only 
across  the  Alps,  but  even  more  through  France  and  by 
sea  to  the  north.  In  this  trade  the  cities  of  Flanders 
and  the  lower  Rhine  took  a  prominent  part,  especially 
KoJn,  which,  though  situated  relatively  far  inland,  was 
for  a  long  time  during  the  Middle  Ages  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal maritime  ports  of  Germany.  It  is  interesting 
tcTnbte  that  with  the  present  expansion  of  German 
commerce,  Koln  again  begins  to  send  its  ships  across 
the  English  Channel  and  to  other  seaports  in  slowly  but 
steadily  increasing  number.  As  early  as  the  period  of 
the  Merovings,  we  read  of  trade  relations  between  Koln 
and  England ;  in  the  time  of  Charles  the  Great  the 
merchants  of  Koln  had  their  own  guild-hall  and  depot  in 
London,  where  they  enjoyed  substantial  privileges  until 
the  fifteenth  century.  In  consequence  of  its  ever-in- 
creasing trade  Koln  soon  outranked  Mainz,  which 
from  the  Roman  period  had  held  the  lead,  and  by  the 
wealth  of  her  citizens  had  won  the  surname  "the 
golden."  For  centuries  Koln  remained  the  most 
powerful  city  of  the  Empire,  and  was  considered  the 
richest  of  Europe. 

After  the  Portuguese,  in  whose  expeditions  German 
merchant  ships  took  part,  had  discovered  the  sea  route 
to  India  (in  which  voyage  the  merchant  and  geographer 
Martin  Behaimof  Niirnberg  participated)  the  merchants 
of  the  northwest  and  of  the  south  of  Germany  did  not 
allow  themselves  to  be  beaten  without  a  spirited  con- 


194  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

test.  The  old  houses  changed  their  base  of  operation 
from  Venice  to  Lisbon.  A  lively  intercourse  with 
Portuguese  ports  was  soon  started,  for  which  Antwerp 
became  the  principal  station. 

The  important  cities  were :  in  the  south,  Regens- 
burg,  Munich,  Ulm,  and  Augsburg,  Basel  and  Strassburg  ; 
in  Switzerland,  Bern  and  Zurich ;  in  the  east,  Vienna, 
Prag,  Breslau;  in  the  north,  Hamburg,  Bremen,  and, 
above  all,  Liibeck,  the  youngest  and  most  powerful  of 
the  maritime  cities;  in  the  northwest,  Brugge  or 
Bruges,  which  preceded  Antwerp  as  the  greatest  em- 
porium of  Flanders,  and  Ghent,  as  well  as  Aachen 
(Aix-la-Chapelle),  the  ancient  city  of  the  emperors 
and  favored  by  many  privileges ;  on  the  Rhine,  Worms, 
the  champion  city  of  municipal  liberties,  and  Speyer 
(Spyres),  besides  the  great  cities  already  mentioned. 
In  the  interior  important  commercial  towns  were :  at 
the  head  of  all,  Erfurt,  at  one  tune  said  to  be  the  most 
populous  city  of  Germany ;  Magdeburg,  whose  charter 
became  the  model  for  many  newer  foundations  in  the 
East ;  Halle  with  its  old  saltworks,  Braunschweig,  and 
Leipzig.  Abroad,  German  merchants  settled  in  all 
important  commercial  places  in  their  own  right  as 
citizens  of  their  own  towns.  Thus  we  find  them  in  the 
old  guild-hall,  Stahlhof,  in  London.  Frequently  we  see 
them  as  the  real  masters  of  the  city,  especially  if  it  was 
of  their  own  foundation,  as  hi  many  Scandinavian 
towns.  Wisby,  on  the  island  of  Gotland,  was  an  old 
German  merchant  city,  which  had  to  cede  its  supremacy 
over  the  Baltic  Sea  to  Liibeck;  and  in  the  midst  of 
Slavic  territory,  in  Novgorod,  Warsaw,  Kracow,  and 
Lemberg,  we  find  German  merchants  living  under  the 
charter  of  their  native  towns,  a  parallel  to  the  extra- 
territorial rights  of  modern  times. 


xxi  THE   RISE   OF  THE  CITIES  195 

This  was,  of  course,  not  all  the  result  of  individual 
enterprise.  The  German  inherited  from  his  old  ad- 
herence to  the  clan  and  the  more  recent  Markgenossen- 
schaft  the  habit  of  uniting  with  others  in  the  settlement 
of  serious  affairs.  Furthermore,  in  the  first  stages  of 
commerce  the  individual  had  not  sufficient  capital 
to  undertake  single-handed  larger  commercial  enter- 
prises ;  and  the  dangers  of  travel  even  at  home  gave  an 
impulse  to  association.  It  seems  that  merchants  used 
for  this  the  already  existing  form  of  the  guild,  origi- 
nally a  society  for  mutual  assistance,  feasting,  and 
certain  religious  observances,  usually  under  the  patron- 
age of  some  saint,  probably  going  back  to  heathen  cult 
communities.  Not  only  commerce,  but  all  transpor- 
tation became  an  affair  of  the  merchant  guilds,  and  as 
soon  as  these  acquired  special  privileges,  all  traders 
found  themselves  compelled  to  join.  This  system, 
however,  was  not  perfected  everywhere  in  all  its  parts, 
and  at  a  comparatively  early  period  we  find  indepen- 
dent trade  companies. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  cities,  more  or  less  inde- 
pendent republics,  were  also  brought  together  by 
common  commercial  and  political  interests.  The  best 
known  of  these  federations  is  the  powerful  Hansa,  which 
at  its  height  was  one  of  the  greatest  commercial  powers 
of  the  world,  and  that  at  a  time  when  the  Empire,  as 
represented  by  the  Emperor,  had  lost  all  power.  A 
much  deeper  and  more  lasting  influence  might  have  been 
exercised  by  the  cities  and  their  citizens,  had  not  Ger- 
man pettiness  and  particularism  prevented  any  univer- 
sal and  permanent  union.  Envy  and  jealousy,  traits 
of  character  already  observed  by  Tacitus,  have  been 
great  drawbacks  to  German  success  on  more  than  one 
occasion. 


196  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

The  German  cities  were  not  content  to  be  the  inter- 
mediary between  South  and  North,  West  and  East,  or 
to  distribute  foreign  merchandise  among  their  own 
markets;  even  during  the  first  stages  of  commerce 
domestic  goods  had  become  an  important  article  of 
trade;  the  handicrafts  developed  into  industries,  and 
soon  domestic  and  intermediary  trade  was  supple- 
mented by  the  export  of  manufactured  home  products ; 
a  number  of  raw  materials  had,  as  we  know,  formed 
the  basis  of  exchange  since  the  oldest  times. 

At  first,  as  we  have  seen,  it  was  the  women,  together 
with  the  serfs,  male  and  female,  who  practised  the 
primitive  crafts.  Everything  in  the  line  of  utensils  and 
clothing  for  use  in  the  home  was  made  on  the  spot. 
Sometimes  wandering  craftsmen  of  particular  skill 
found  employment ;  and  in  time,  just  as  in  the  monas- 
teries, a  many-sided  activity  was  developed  on  the 
great  estates.  On  the  estates  of  Charles  the  Great 
butter,  cheese,  salted  and  corned  meats  and  sausages, 
wine,  vinegar,  mulberry  wine,  mustard,  malt,  beer, 
and  mead  were  manufactured.  The  Emperor  expressly 
prescribed  the  greatest  cleanliness.  He  demanded 
likewise  that  in  the  separate  buildings  for  the  women 
raw  materials  for  the  clothing  industries,  as  flax,  wool, 
woad,  scarlet,  madder,  wool-combs,  carding  thistles, 
soap,  and  the  like,  must  always  be  kept  in  stock. 
Furthermore,  it  was  ordained  "that  every  overseer 
must  have  in  his  district  good  craftsmen,  as  ironsmiths, 
gold  and  silversmiths,  shoemakers,  turners,  carpenters, 
shield-makers,  fishers,  falconers,  soap-boilers,  brewers 
who  are  able  to  prepare  not  only  beer,  but  also  apple 
and  pear  cider  and  other  drinks,  bakers  who  understand 
how  to  bake  bread  for  our  household,  net-makers  who 
know  how  to  spin  nets  for  hunting,  fishing,  and  bird- 


xxi  THE  RISE   OF  THE   CITIES  197 

catching,  and  all  kinds  of  other  craftsmen."  Lumber- 
yards, iron,  lead,  and  other  kinds  of  mines  were  com- 
prised under  the  management  of  the  farm. 

These  crafts  received  special  attention  in  the  mon- 
asteries, as  the  monks  themselves  often  possessed  great 
skill.  Bishop  Eugene  of  Noyes,  who  lived  in  the 
Meroving  period,  was  famous  for  his  art  of  making 
gold  and  silver  ornaments,  and  later,  Bishop  Bernward 
of  Hildesheim,  accomplished  in  many  arts,  was  espe- 
cially known  for  his  artistic  work  in  bronze.  Colored 
glass,  again,  was  made  first  in  the  monasteries ;  and  glass 
painting  is  said  to  have  been  invented  by  south  German 
monks,  but  this  is  doubtful.  After  the  Karling  time 
the  great  landholders  began  to  specialize;  skilful  vil- 
lains were  placed  as  overseers  over  the  shops,  the  prod- 
ucts of  which  they  sold  in  the  market  for  the  benefit 
of  the  manorial  lord. 

With  the  growth  of  cities  specialization  set  in  with 
greater  vigor,  craftsmen  were  in  great  demand,  and  we 
find  them  mentioned  at  an  early  period  together  with 
the  trader  and  peasant.  For  the  villain  who  under- 
stood some  handicraft,  removal  to  the  city  meant  not 
only  a  chance  of  earning  a  better  livelihood,  but  per- 
sonal liberty  as  well ;  whoever  had  spent  a  year  under 
the  protection  of  a  city  could  not  be  reclaimed  by  his 
former  master.  Stadtluft  macht  frei  (city  air  makes 
free)  became  not  a  current  saying  only,  but  a  legal 
principle.  Under  the  influence  of  growing  interna- 
tional commerce  the  cities  outstripped  the  country 
districts  in  prosperity;  on  account  of  their  political 
growth  and  of  their  relative  security,  compared  with 
the  open  country  where  feuds  and  raids  disturbed  all 
healthy  development,  life  in  the  cities  became  more 
and  more  active  and  broad.  New  inventions,  improve- 


198  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

ments,  rediscoveries  of  a  lost  technique,  and  quick 
appropriation  of  foreign  industries  are  so  many  wit- 
nesses. 

The  associative  instinct  could  not  fail  to  cause  the 
craftsmen  to  join  together  according  to  their  different 
crafts  in  guilds ;  in  German  the  word  for  these  is  Zunft, 
although  there  is  no  reason  why  they  might  not  be 
called  Gilden,  as  well  as  the  older  merchant  guilds. 
As  with  the  merchant  guilds,  once  a  member  one's 
whole  life  was  regulated  by  the  statutes  of  the  guild, 
and  no  one  outside  of  the  organization  was  allowed 
to  practise  his  craft.  Competition  was  limited;  an 
attempt,  often  successful,  was  .made  to  prevent  the 
massing  of  capital  in  a  single  hand,  and  regulations 
were  made  hi  regard  to  apprentices  and  journeymen. 
From  the  beginning  the  German  craftsman  showed 
great  love  for  his  calling,  and  pride  in  work  well  per- 
formed. He  thought  much  of  his  professional  honor, 
individually  and  collectively.  The  guild  controlled 
the  quality  of  the  work  and  the  purity  of  the  raw 
material ;  work  might  not  be  commenced  on  a  new 
order  before  the  last  one  had  been  finished. 

It  was  not  long,  however,  before  some  capital  was 
saved  and  goods  were  produced  above  the  immediate 
need  of  customers.  The  institution  of  the  journey- 
men's travels,  too,  which  were  compulsory  and  re- 
mained customary  until  long  after  the  introduction 
of  steamships  and  railroads,  may  have  caused  a  quick 
exchange  of  all  technical  improvements,  however 
carefully  they  were  guarded  as  secrets  of  the  craft. 
In  this  connection  there  may  be  mentioned  innumer- 
able tools,  fire-arms,  brass,  spinning-wheels,  organs, 
mill  works,  copper-  and  wood-engraving,  watches,  gun- 
powder, diamond-cutting,  which  have  all  been  either 


xxi  THE  RISE   OF  THE   CITIES  199 

invented  in  Germany  or  perfected  so  as  to  become 
really  practical. 

Most  important  of  all  was  the  cheap  process  of  mak- 
ing paper  out  of  linen  rags,  which,  invented  in  China, 
is  first  found  in  Europe  among  the  Saracens  in  Sicily, 
and  thence  spreads  abroad.  The  first  German  paper- 
mill  was  opened  in  Ravensburg  in  1190.  About  1320 
we  hear  of  paper-mills  in  Koln  and  Mainz.  In  the 
earlier  Middle  Ages  there  was  no  book  trade  what- 
ever ;  very  precious  manuscripts  were  loaned  sometimes 
for  copying  purposes,  but  were  rarely  sold.  The  new 
cheap  paper,  however,  made  the  production  of  a  great 
many  copies  possible ;  wood  and  copper  engravings 
were  widely  distributed  ;  and  in  time  whole  texts  were 
cut  in  wood  or  copper  plates  page  by  page  and  printed. 
Thus  book-selling  became  a  regular  trade.  This  was 
soon  succeeded  by  the  greatest  invention  of  the  German 
crafts,  an  invention  which  had  been  sought  after  in 
other  countries  and  which  placed  Germany  at  one 
stroke  at  the  head  of  intellectual  culture ;  I  mean,  of 
course,  the  art  of  printing,  the  great  means  for  the 
democratization  of  intelligence.  The  contemporary 
public  did  not  fail  to  recognize  the  importance  of  this 
invention.  Before  the  fifteenth  century  was  ended, 
twenty-five  thousand  books  had  been  published,  not 
counting  reissues.  Abbot  Tritheim  speaks  of  the 
"  admirable  art,  unheard  of  up  to  this  time,  of  printing 
books  by  single  types,  invented  and  thought  out  by 
a  citizen  of  Mainz,  one  Johannes  Gutenberg";  and 
a  member  of  the  next  generation,  Johannes  Wymphel- 
ing,  rector  of  the  famous  school  at  Schlettstadt,  says : 
"There  is  no  invention  or  fruit  of  our  mind  of  which 
we  Germans  may  be  as  proud  as  of  the  art  of  printing 
books,  which  has  raised  us  to  the  position  of  the  intel- 


200  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

lectual  purveyors  of  the  teachings  of  Christianity  as 
well  as  of  all  divine  and  secular  science,  and  by  this 
means  has  made  us  benefactors  of  all  mankind.  How 
different  a  life  is  seen  now  amongst  all  classes  of  the 
people;  and  who  would  not  gratefully  remember  the 
first  founders  and  promoters  of  this  art,  even  if  he  has 
not,  as  has  been  the  case  of  our  teachers,  known 
them  personally  and  enjoyed  their  conversation?  As 
formerly  the  apostles  of  Christianity  went  forth,  so 
now  the  disciples  of  the  sacred  art  go  forth  from  Ger- 
many into  all  countries ;  their  printed  books  become 
heralds  of  the  gospel,  preachers  of  truth  and  science." 

Closely  connected  with  the  crafts  in  German)^  as 
elsewhere,  we  find  the  plastic  arts.  The  artist  is  above 
all  a  craftsman,  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  craft, 
which  thus  develops  into  industrial  art.  In  tune,  art 
is  separated  from  handicraft,  and,  after  freeing  itself 
from  its  inferior  position,  becomes  autonomous,  indi- 
vidual art  with  ideals  of  its  own,  while  the  craft  sinks 
back  into  mere  usefulness,  leaving  for  our  admiration 
those  old  masterpieces  as  a  relic  of  the  lost  unity  of 
art  and  craft.  At  present  we  are  witnessing  a  renais- 
sance of  industrial  art,  not  the  natural  organic  unity 
of  mediaeval  tunes,  but  the  product  of  a  conscious  appli- 
cation of  art  principles  to  the  utensils  of  daily  use. 

It  has  been  pointed  out  in  former  chapters  that  the 
oldest  products  of  Germanic  art  show  a  style  of  their 
own.  Mathematical  elements,  at  first  lines,  curves, 
zigzag  lines,  later  on  spiral  lines,  are  entwined  in  the 
most  varied  ways.  Animal  motives  had  in  prehistoric 
times  been  introduced  into  ornamentation  by  having 
the  ends  of  the  ribbons  run  out  into  the  heads  of  ani- 
mals ;  and  gradually  entire  animal  bodies  were  conven- 
tionalized in  a  confusing  mass  of  lines.  Toward  the 


xxi  THE   RISE  OF  THE  CITIES  201 

end  of  Roman  times  we  find  such  designs  executed  in 
silver  inlay,  hammered  into  the  engraved  grooves  of  an 
iron  surface  (Tauschierarbeii) .  A  new  motive  is  the 
entwined  ribbon  ornament,  reminding  us  of  leather 
straps  fastened  at  the  crossing  points  by  nails,  the 
heads  of  which  appear  sometimes  in  the  ornaments. 
This  ribbon  ornament  finds  its  principal  development  in 
miniature  painting  on  manuscripts,  practised  especially 
in  the  monasteries.  Soon  plant  motives  follow,  and 
finally  human  figures.  We  can  observe  the  same  devel- 
opment of  ornamentation  in  metal  work,  wood-carving, 
and  stonework,  the  latter  being  modelled  after  wood 
ornaments.  Where  antique  models  are  imitated,  e.g,, 
in  the  capitals  of  columns,  especially  when  the  imi- 
tating is  done  from  memory,  domestic  motives  are 
frequently  introduced  instead  of  the  unknown  forms, 
and  German  plants  are  used  as  models,  gradually 
standing  out  more  freely  and  naturally. 

But  all  their  work  is  characterized  by  that  Germanic 
style  which  left  its  traces  all  over  Europe  wherever 
Germanic  tribes  settled  during  the  migration  period, 
and  holds  its  own  until  the  ninth  century;  in  the 
Germanic  North  it  finds  its  highest  development  still 
later.  Throughout  the  centuries  of  changing  style  it  re- 
appears from  time  to  time ;  to-day  we  see  its  revival  in 
the  modern  styles  of  America,  England,  and  Germany, 
the  more  remarkable  since  it  seems,  in  its  beginnings 
at  least,  unintentional. 

Scientific  investigation  along  these  lines  is  still  in 
its  infancy,  but  two  principles  may  be  accepted  as  dis- 
tinctly Germanic.  The  one  is  primarily  of  a  technical 
nature,  and  consists  in  the  complete  separation  of  the 
ornament  from  the  organism  of  the  structure.  Antique 
and  later  medieval  art  made  the  ornamentation  an 


202  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

element  of  the  constructive  parts ;  Germanic  art  finishes 
its  object,  as  demanded  by  its  purpose,  and  then  adds 
the  ornamentation  to  its  surface.  This  is  the  principle 
of  woodwork  ornamentation;  but,  at  the  same  time, 
may  we  not  find  the  ultimate  reason  for  the  return  to 
a  technique  foreign  to  the  new  material  in  that  racial 
desire  to  separate  the  essential  from  the  ornamental, 
the  purposeful  from  the  decorative,  element  ? 

The  other  characteristic  principle  of  Germanic  art 
is  one  of  composition;  it  puts  eurythmy  (gebundene 
Bewegung)  in  place  of  or  alongside  of  symmetry,  which 
plays  such  an  important  part  in  classical  and  related 
arts.  It  prefers  repetition  to  reversion,  and  gives 
that  impression  of  motion,  of  life,  which  is  so  character- 
istic of  Germanic  ornament.  / ',' 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  mention  as  one  of  the 
results  of  more  recent  research  the  discovery  that  the 
well-known  horseshoe  arch  of  Moorish  architecture  is 
not  of  Arabic  but  of  Germanic  origin,  brought  to  Spain 
by  the  Visigoths.  The  better  our  acquaintance  with 
the  artistic  products  of  those  times,  the  more  "we  are 
surprised,"  to  quote  literally  from  Albrecht  Haupt, 
to  whom  our  subject  owes  very  valuable  contributions, 
"  above  all  at  the  unexpected  unity  of  this  art,  which, 
different  throughout  from  all  other  contemporaneous 
art,  influenced  by  it  only  in  a  small  degree,  proves  that 
this  enormous  mass  of  Germanic  peoples  possessed 
one  kind  of  taste,  one  way  of  adorning,  of  clothing, 
of  arming  themselves,  of  living,  certainly  also  of  build- 
ing, and  using  their  homes."  At  all  events  it  cannot 
be  said  that  the  development  of  art  in  Germany  is 
due  merely  to  the  reception  of  Roman  influences  by  a 
people  without  any  artistic  tradition  of  its  own. 

The  art  which  in  our  minds  is  mostly  connected  with 


xxi  THE  RISE  OF  THE   CITIES  203 

the  mediaeval  period  is  architecture.  As  the  Germans 
were  untrained  in  the  science  of  constructing  stone 
churches  and  royal  palaces,  architects  and  masons  had 
to  be  called  from  Italy  and  France,  though  monks  and 
clerics  were  often  then1  own  architects.  At  first  classi- 
cal models  were  imitated ;  but  soon  a  period  of  decay 
set  in,  and  even  vaulting  became  a  lost  art.  In  their 
poor  imitations  of  the  Roman  models  the  Germans, 
though  they  lost  a  great  many  of  the  finer  elements, 
showed  a  certain  spirit  of  defiance,  a  sinister  power, 
which  cannot  be  sufficiently  explained  by  a  mere  disa- 
bility to  do  more  elegant  work.  While  the  Roman 
basilica  may  have  given  the  fundamental  form,  features 
which  cannot  be  explained  by  foreign  influence  became 
more  and  more  apparent.  There  is  something  massive, 
sometimes  even  clumsy,  about  the  buildings,  but  they 
are  broadly  and  solidly  settled  on  the  ground  with  a 
plain  austerity  which  seems  to  indicate  a  turning  away 
from  the  outside  world.  The  Mausoleum  of  Theodorich 
at  Ravenna  already  shows  a  character  of  its  own.  In 
time  a  regaining  of  technical  skill  is  noticeable ;  from 
its  broad  and  solid  foundation  the  building  comes  to 
strive  towards  greater  height,  the  decorative  side  is 
more  emphasized,  and  in  Saxon  Germany  we  find  the 
first  types  of  the  Romanesque  style  of  architecture. 
At  first  the  ceiling' is  flat,  made  of  wood,  but  after  the 
rediscovery  of  vaulting  the  so-called  Romanesque  arch  is 
applied.  This  style,  in  its  adaptation  truly  German, 
spreads  rapidly,  leaving  a  great  number  of  magnificent 
churches  for  the  admiration  of  the  modern  traveller. 

In  Germany  the  desire  for  still  higher  arching,  vaster 
space,  for  a  disburdening  of  the  stone,  so  to  speak,  for 
a  spiritualizing  of  matter,  continued,  and  led  to  a  transi- 
tion style  in  the  Rhine  regions.  In  France,  near  Paris, 


204  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

where  an  easily  shaped  sandstone  facilitated  progress, 
this  resulted  in  the  style  which,  centuries  later,  the 
Italians  dubbed  Gothic,  a  word  intended  in  this  case 
to  mean  "barbarous,"  in  which  sense  the  expression  was 
long  used  by  the  Romance  nations.  The  new  French 
style  decided  the  development  of  architecture  in  Ger- 
many at  the  same  time  that  French  courtoisie,  hove- 
scheit,  was  exercising  its  influence  on  German  knight- 
hood. The  German  race-theorists  like  to  point  out 
that  the  cradle  of  this  beautiful  style  of  architecture 
is  to  be  found  in  that  part  of  France  where  the  German 
invaders  decided  the  character  of  the  population  in 
spite  of  their  acceptance  of  the  Romance  language.  It 
is  a  fact  that  at  the  time  when  the  Gothic  style  was 
first  originated  German  was  still  spoken  in  Paris,  and 
the  older  church  windows  show  German  inscriptions. 
It  is  not  without  significance  that  beginnings  similar  to 
those  of  the  Gothic  style  are  found  in  the  Germanic 
North,  where  wooden  buildings  show  the  same  tenden- 
cies ;  here  the  pointed  arch  seems  to  be  technologically 
founded  on  shipbuilding,  the  roof  being  in  fact  an  in- 
verted ship.  It  is  a  fact  that  the  Gothic  architecture 
follows  the  Normans  in  all  their  settlements.  The 
Gothic  churches  of  Germany  are  numerous  and 
beautiful. 

In  the  meantime  stone  building  had  become  a  secu- 
lar craft,  as  was  bound  to  be  the  case  when  people 
began  to  build  cities.  Princes  and  wealthy  burghers 
took  the  place  of  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  in  adorning 
their  cities  with  magnificent  cathedrals  and  minsters. 
Secular  buildings,  palaces,  and  public  buildings,  as  well 
as  the  residences  of  rich  merchants,  also  began  to  adopt 
the  new  style.  As  the  principal  monument  of  secular 
architecture  in  the  Romanesque  style  may  be  mentioned 


xxi  THE  RISE   OF  THE  CITIES  205 

the  imperial  palace,  Kaiserhaus,  at  Goslar;  while  the 
Marienburg,  the  palatial  residence  of  the  Grand  Masters 
of  the  Teutonic  Order  since  the  fourteenth  century,  is 
an  example  of  the  Gothic  style.  Painting  and  sculpture 
in  the  course  of  development  showed  more  and  more 
characterization,  life,  and  movement.  As  early  as  at 
the  end  of  the  Romanesque  period  we  find  some  master- 
pieces of  sculpture,  such  as  the  Sibyl  in  the  Bamberg 
cathedral.  The  Gothic  style  caused  an  arrest  of  devel- 
opment, or  rather  a  retrogression  towards  a  stilted,  con- 
ventional treatment  which  had  not  quite  disappeared 
from  German  sculpture  at  the  end  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

In  painting  at  first  only  the  outlines  of  the  subjects 
are  given,  and  in  typical  rendition,  as  of  an  animal  or 
bird  without  representing  a  definite  species.  Then  we 
find  a  closer  approach  to  reality  in  a  still  very  conven- 
tional conception,  until  at  last,  at  the  time  of  the 
strengthening  of  the  burgher  element  in  the  cities, 
a  true  naturalistic  reproduction  is  reached.  Thus  the 
development  of  art  represents  simply  one  side  of  the 
transition  from  an  unfree  state  to  liberty,  brought 
about  by  life  in  the  cities. 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  difference  of  the  Germanic 
from  the  Classical  Art  is  the  liberty  allowed  to  the 
individual  artist  within  the  general  lines  of  the  style. 
To  recognize  this,  one  needs  only  compare,  for  instance, 
the  rigid  adherence  of  classical  architecture  to  the  few 
standard  types  of  columns  and  the  unlimited  variety 
not  only  in  the  details  where  full  play  is  given  to  a  de- 
lightful, often  humorous,  expression  of  individuality, 
but  also  in  the  more  important  form  deciding  features 
of  columns  and  pillars  of  Germanic  structures.  This 
liberty  alone  might  tempt  one  to  characterize  all  Occi- 
dental Mediaeval  Art  as  essentially  Germanic. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE    RISE    OF    THE    CITIES 
II 

The  Change  of  Economic  Basis  and  its  Consequences. 
Legal  and  Political  Development  of  the  Cities 

IN  the  economic  system  of  the  cities  the  agrarian  basis 
was  changed  to  a  financial  one,  and  the  way  thus  pre- 
pared for  modern  times.  In  following  up  the  economic 
process  in  all  its  psychological  consequences,  Lamprecht, 
in  his  "Deutsche  Geschichte,"  has  been  exceedingly 
fortunate  in  showing  the  importance  of  this  factor  in 
human  evolution.  "The  increase  of  commerce,"  he 
says,  "  leads  to  a  hitherto  unsuspected  freedom  of  move- 
ment in  the  individual ;  it  causes  a  breaking  away  from 
the  old,  locally  bound  associations ;  no  longer  local 
attachments,  but  differences  of  calling,  leaving  the 
local  element  out  entirely,  become  the  social  ferment  of 
national  society ;  soon  the  social  consequences  of  this 
translocation  become  evident  in  mental  life.  Among 
these  consequences  is  the  release  of  the  hitherto  fet- 
tered aesthetic  conception :  poetry  advances  to  drama 
and  satire  and  with  these  to  the  beginnings  of  individu- 
alistic reproduction  and  criticism  of  the  material  world ; 
art  gains  more  and  more  the  power  of  realistic  concep- 
tion and  rendition;  thought  progresses  to  a  truly 
scientific  control  of  the  external  world  and  leaves  medi- 
tation concerning  the  highest  problems,  the  relations 

206 


CHAP,  xxn  THE   RISE   OF  THE   CITIES  207 

of  God,  Universe,  Man,  of  responsibility,  to  the  con- 
science of  the  individual.  Individualism  is  awake ; 
slowly,  out  of  an  ever  deeper  penetration  of  the  world, 
and  ever  firmer  control  over  it,  the  modern  man  is 
born." 

The  causes  governing  this  development  in  the  German 
cities  were  found  in  the  conditions  of  trade  and  industry 
described  above.  It  first  became  evident  in  the  field 
of  law  and  politics.  In  the  earlier  times  the  "  law  of 
the  market"  was  an  imperial  prerogrative.  The  attend- 
ants at  the  markets  enjoyed  certain  immunities,  such 
dispensations  from  certain  legal  limitations  as  common 
sense  suggested.  A  bundle  of  straw  was  raised  to  show 
the  duration  of  the  market,  and  this  was  sometimes 
adorned  with  the  emblems  of  the  imperial  authority, 
the  shield  and  sword,  which  later  gave  rise  to  the  erection 
of  the  statues  which  are  all  named  after  the  hero  Roland 
and  arouse  a  curious  interest  at  the  present  day.  Some- 
times a  banner  was  displayed,  which  is  the  origin  of  the 
market  cross.  These  were  the  symbols  of  the  Markt- 
frieden,  i.e.,  the  enforcement  of  the  special  legal  con- 
ditions pertinent  to  the  holding  of  the  market.  Like 
other  regalia,  the  right  of  the  market  was  transferred 
to  the  vassals,  especially  the  bishops,  and  in  later  times 
the  cities  themselves.  The  territorial  lord  thus  be- 
came the  lord  of  the  market.  In  administrative  matters 
he  was  represented  by  a  warden  under  different  titles. 

When  in  its  rapid  development  the  "  mark  "  became 
more  and  more  identical  with  the  old  political  unit  of 
the  hundreds  or  its  subdivisions,  and  the  city  limits  in- 
cluded both,  the  administrative  bodies  became  united ; 
the  guild  obtained  a  share  in  the  government,  and 
aside  from  the  representatives  of  the  judicial  lord  we  find 
the  Schoffen,  or  lay  assessors,  and  elected  councillors. 


208  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

Since  the  political  development  of  every  city  took  place 
independently,  though,  whether  imperial  cities  or  under 
the  lordship  of  a  prince  or  bishop,  more  or  less  under- 
going the  same  stages,  the  results  were  not  by  any  means 
uniform,  and  the  "liberties"  they  enjoyed  were  of  the 
greatest  variety.  The  city  government  begins  to  take 
republican  form,  at  first,  to  be  sure,  under  higher  juris- 
diction ;  the  king  or  the  lord  to  whom  the  royal  rights 
had  been  transferred  took  part  hi  the  administration 
through  his  officers  and  ministerials,  but  less  for  the 
benefit  of  the  cities  than  for  the  sake  of  increasing  the 
revenues  which  accrued  to  him  from  the  right  of  coinage, 
tolls,  and  customs,  and  the  control  of  the  market  and 
the  police. 

As  was  the  rule  under  the  feudal  system,  these  offices 
became  hereditary,  and  the  families  of  the  baronial 
officials  associated  and  intermarried  with  those  of  the 
guilds ;  and  later  they  sided  with  the  burghers  when  the 
systematic  attempt  began  to  abrogate  all  obligations 
towards  the  territorial  lord.  This  abrogation  or  limi- 
tation of  territorial  rule  was  accomplished  partly  by  long 
and  violent  combat,  partly,  after  the  increase  of  cap- 
italistic power,  in  a  friendly  way  by  the  payment  of 
certain  sums  of  money.  Other  rights,  especially  in  re- 
gard to  trade  monopolies,  were  obtained  from  the 
emperor  directly  or  were  acquired  by  treaties  with 
neighboring  lords.  The  city  council  took  control  both 
as  territorial  and  municipal  administrator  and  adopted 
a  policy  of  far-reaching,  paternal  provision  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  citizens  which  found  expression  in  the  pet- 
tiest police  regulations. 

The  administration  of  justice  was  largely  a  municipal 
affair,  so  that  the  task  of  developing  the  legal  foundation 
for  the  new  economic  conditions  fell  to  the  cities.  The 


xxii  THE   RISE  OF  THE  CITIES  209 

Empire  had  manifested  its  impotence  to  put  a  stop  to 
the  general  insecurity  and  legal  confusion  which  had 
become  a  real  scourge.  Even  the  Sachsenspiegel,  a  cod- 
ification of  Low  German  law  by  Eike  von  Repgow,  who 
in  an  admirable  manner  tried  to  bring  some  system 
into  the  general  chaos  of  the  thirteenth  century,  could 
not  as  a  private  enterprise  have  very  much  practical 
success.  The  attempt  of  the  cities  to  adapt  ancient 
laws  to  the  new  conditions  brought  about  a  new  con- 
trast between  city  and  country,  which  helped  to  widen 
the  breech  between  the  two.  Another  consequence 
of  the  certain  legal  conditions  was  the  rise  of  the  famous 
Verne,  a  kind  of  mediaeval  vigilance  committee,  based, 
however,  on  old  constitutional  authority. 

As  to  the  financial  side,  the  city  council,  which  con- 
trolled the  coinage  and  the  commercial  regalia,  pos- 
sessed full  power.  Thus  it  was  possible  for  the  guild  to 
secure  a  trade  monopoly.  Jews  were  excluded  from 
commerce  at  an  early  period ;  but  as  the  latter  developed 
to  such  an  extent  as  to  make  great  enterprises  impossible 
without  the  use  of  credit,  the  money  trade  fell  to  the 
Jews  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  taking  of  interest  being 
strictly  forbidden  by  the  Church.  It  is  true  that,  thanks 
to  a  very  high  rate  of  interest,  they  soon  acquired  ex- 
traordinary wealth,  but  by  this  very  fact  they  aroused 
the  envy  of  the  masses.  With  the  increase  of  the  cler- 
ical power  under  the  successors  of  Charles  the  Great 
they  began  to  suffer  somewhat  from  religious  intoler- 
ance. During  Holy  Week  especially  the  slaughter  of 
the  Jews  (Judenschlachten)  became  frequent,  and  the 
existence  of  the  Jews'  tax  paid  to  the  emperor  for  pro- 
tection proves  the  need  for  such  protection.  Persecu- 
tions on  a  large  scale,  however,  began  only  during  the 
Crusades,  when  the  rabble  combined  avarice  with  re- 


210  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

ligious  hate.  From  May  to  July,  1096,  about  twelve 
thousand  Jews  were  slain  in  the  Rhenish  cities  alone, 
not,  however,  by  their  fellow-citizens,  but  by  the  mass 
of  undisciplined  people  of  all  nationalities,  who,  as  the 
advance  guard  of  the  first  Crusade,  marched  through 
Germany  to  Constantinople  and  as  bearers  of  the  cross 
took  a  great  many  liberties  in  the  name  of  the  religion 
of  love.  The  natives  under  the  leadership  of  their 
clergymen  and  bishops  tried  to  hide  and  protect  the 
Jews,  but  with  little  success.  After  that  time  the  per- 
secutions increased  in  number,  becoming  especially 
cruel  in  times  of  public  calamity,  when  superstition 
and  fear  overshadowed  all  reason.  With  the  persecu- 
tion of  the  heretics  toward  the  end  of  the  Middle  Ages 
Jew  baiting  became  a  regular  institution.  For  the 
reigning  lords,  however,  the  Jews  afforded  an  unfailing 
refuge  from  financial  troubles ;  this  kind  of  robbery  was 
called  a  compulsory  loan.  With  the  increasing  dis- 
satisfaction of  the  penniless  it  soon  became  a  favorite 
trick  of  so-called  statesmanship  to  divert  the  displeasure 
of  the  masses  by  a  skilfully  managed  persecution  of  the 
Jews.  These  abuses  reached  their  height  at  the  time 
of  the  Black  Death,  during  the  fourteenth  century. 
Ritual  murder  is  first  heard  of  in  the  time  of  the 
Crusades. 

Of  course,  the  progress  of  commerce  would  not  allow 
the  socialistic  and  communistic  doctrines  of  Christianity 
to  stand  in  its  way  forever.  In  time  the  city  coun- 
cils regulate  the  position  of  the  debtor.  Soon  after  the 
firm  establishment  of  private  property  in  land,  mort- 
gages at  an  official  rate  of  interest  were  adopted  and 
certain  regulations  of  credit  decided  upon.  Alone  or 
in  common  with  other  cities  the  council  took  charge 
of  the  money  trade,  founded  the  first  state  banks,  or 


xxii  THE  RISE  OF  THE  CITIES  211 

subsidized  private  banks  already  in  existence.  The 
necessity  of  a  basis  of  exchange  in  view  of  the  many 
kinds  of  coinage  had  been  the  beginning  of  banking. 
As  increasing  capital  strengthened  the  initiative  of 
the  individual  and  broke  the  fetters  of  merchant  and 
craft-guilds,  without  however  destroying  these  insti- 
tutions, business  soon  emancipated  itself  from  the 
guardianship  of  the  council.  In  all  these  respects 
Germany  followed  the  lead  of  Italy,  where  economic 
development  was  more  advanced.  The  first  banks 
had  been  opened  in  Venice  in  1171.  Many  technical 
expressions  in  commercial  bookkeeping  and  banking 
bear  testimony  to  their  Italian  origin. 

The  cities  also  succeeded  in  overcoming  the  German 
dislike  for  taxation,  which  increased  with  the  power 
of  the  lords.  The  ground  tax  seems  to  be  the  oldest 
form.  Indirect  taxation  took  the  shape  of  import  duties 
and  of  excise  on  wine,  beer,  salt,  fish,  meat,  etc.  Slowly 
the  council  learned  to  organize  a  regular  financial  house- 
hold, which  later  was  imitated  by  the  territorial  lords. 
The  latter  succeeded  in  the  thirteenth  century  in 
changing  the  voluntary  gift  of  the  Bede  to  a  compulsory 
tax,  Notbede. 

But  in  the  meantime  the  city  government  had  under- 
gone a  radical  change.  The  merchant  guilds  had 
already  acquired  considerable  power  and  had  combined 
with  the  ministerials  of  the  original  lord  of  the  city  to 
form  a  patrician  aristocracy  by  the  time  the  industries 
came  to  found  organizations  of  their  own  in  the  craft- 
guilds.  It  was  in  the  interest  of  the  ruling  families,  i.e., 
of  the  great  mercantile  houses,  to  allow  them  all  the 
privileges  conducive  to  the  development  of  industry. 
But  in  time  the  increase  of  capital  in  the  hands  of  the 
craftsman  and  the  development  of  manufacturing  on  a 


212  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

larger  scale  brought  the  craft-guilds  into  about  the  same 
position  in  relation  to  the  patricians  as  the  latter  had 
held  not  long  before  as  regards  their  territorial  lords; 
and  in  course  of  nature  the  same  development  was  bound 
to  follow.  The  craft-guilds  demanded  participation  in 
the  government.  The  patricians  had  already  begun  to 
degenerate  under  the  influence  of  quickly  acquired 
riches.  They  tried  to  rival  the  knights  in  everything ; 
indeed,  many  knightly  families  who  had  settled  in  the 
cities  were  of  then*  number.  Neither  did  the  nobility 
fail  to  better  their  straightened  economical  conditions 
by  matrimonial  connections  with  rich  patricians;  and 
likewise  the  knights  for  similar  reasons  sometimes  re- 
membered then*  rustic  origin  and  their  peasant  relatives, 
if  the  latter  were  blessed  with  a  handsome  property. 
When  an  increased  class  consciousness,  a  stronger  em- 
phasis on  the  equality  of  birth,  and  the  ever-widening 
breach  between  the  city  and  country  put  an  end  to  these 
personal  relations,  the  burghers  stiU  kept  up  the  chival- 
ric  standard  of  life  and  even  outranked  the  gradually 
declining  nobility  in  intellectual  culture  and  outward 
pomp. 

In  their  fight  against  the  patrician  families  who  were 
already  partially  diverted  from  the  more  serious  pursuits 
of  life,  the  craft-guilds  had  the  advantage  of  a  greater 
familiarity  with  arms,  as  they  formed  the  body  of  the 
municipal  militia.  On  them  the  city  relied  for  defence. 
It  was  sometimes  in  peaceful  agreement,  but  usually 
in  very  bloody  civil  wars,  that  the  craft-guilds  won 
their  rights.  The  democratic  reforms  were  first  ac- 
complished in  Speyer  and  Worms.  In  many  cities 
the  patrician  families,  die  Geschlechter  or  die  Ehrbarkeit,  as 
they  were  called,  were  entirely  expelled ;  in  others  they 
were  compelled  to  share  the  administration  with  their 


xxn  THE  RISE   OF  THE  CITIES  213 

adversaries,  which  frequently  meant  only  an  increase  in 
the  number  of  ruling  families.  In  justice,  however, 
it  must  be  said  that,  on  the  whole,  the  cities  which 
stood  under  aristocratic  rule  had  the  better  adminis- 
trations. 

But  the  development  of  individualism  overtook  the 
reform  before  it  had  been  accomplished.  It  was  not 
as  a  member  of  his  guild,  but  as  an  independent  person- 
ality, that  the  citizen  began  to  demand  his  rights ;  while 
outside  of  the  recognized  associations  the  poor  of  the 
cities  and  the  peasants  were  awakening  to  a  conscious- 
ness of  human  rights. 

On  the  whole,  this  development,  much  as  it  may  have 
been  influenced  by  economic  conditions,  was  in  accord 
with  Germanic  character.  In  this,  as  has  been  shown 
already  in  the  conception  of  the  state  of  primitive 
times,  "  there  is  combined  a  strong  feeling  of  personality 
of  the  individual  who  masterfully  relies  on  himself  with 
a  readiness  to  unite  with  others  in  faithful  association 
for  the  accomplishment  of  such  tasks  as  overtax  the 
strength  of  a  single  person.  But  for  those  tasks  only ; 
after  their  performance  he  retires  to  his  own  resources." 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE    HEIGHT   OF   NATIONAL   LIFE 

About  the  Year  1500 

IN  tracing  the  different  currents  of  German  life  in  the 
early  stages  of  its  development  we  have  not  paid  much 
attention  to  chronology.  While  we  have  not  lost 
sight  of  the  threads  connecting  all  the  different  phases  of 
life  and  have  been  able  to  discover,  if  not  the  origin,  at 
least  the  antiquity,  of  some  institutions  and  traits  of 
modern  Germany  and  its  inhabitants,  the  epoch  at 
which  we  have  arrived,  standing  at  the  threshold  of 
modern  civilization,  seems  to  invite  us  to  take  a  survey 
of  the  results  of  German  evolution  since  the  time  of  the 
Migrations,  when  the  nation  began  to  live  a  life  sepa- 
rate from  that  of  its  racial  relatives  and  when  its 
national  life  began  to  differentiate  under  the  influ- 
ence of  progressing  culture. 

The  time  about  the  year  1500  is  perhaps  the  time  of 
the  greatest  vigor  of  the  German  nation;  there  is  the 
exuberant  vitality  of  healthy  youth,  which  seems  to  be 
principally  physical  health,  an  excess  of  energy,  which 
miist  be  worked  off  in  action  of  some  kind.  There  is 
not  of  necessity  an  inferiority  on  the  side  of  intellectual 
and  spiritual  life,  yet  we  get  an  impression  of  material- 
ism, of  sensualism.  It  is  a  people  full  of  animal  spirits, 
prosperous,  self-satisfied,  passionate,  impulsive,  not 
over-refined,  still  with  a  latent  strength  of  intellect  which 

214 


CHAP,  xxin    THE  HEIGHT   OF  NATIONAL  LIFE  215 

does  not  shrink  from  difficult  problems,  and  with  a 
depth  of  feeling  which  manifests  itself  in  many  ways. 
The  whole  nation  is  unsettled,  and  signs  of  things  to 
come  are  evident  to  the  careful  observer.  The  nation 
has  outgrown  its  childhood  and  is  ready  to  enter  upon 
a  maturer  stage  of  life.  In  spite  of  the  deep  conflicts 
which  agitate  it,  the  national  personality  —  if  so  I  may 
translate  the  German  Volkstum,  a  coinage  of  Friedrich 
Ludwig  Jahn  —  seems  to  be  remarkably  uniform. 
The  higher  and  lower  nobility  had  almost  given  up  the 
international  culture  of  chivalry,  which  for  a  time  had 
threatened  to  form  an  exclusive  caste  of  a  military 
aristocracy.  The  clergy  had  given  up  its  aspiration 
to  a  Latin  erudition  and  a  loftier  plan  of  life  apart  from 
the  lay  world ;  the  new  education,  of  a  more  secular 
character,  had  not  taken  deep  enough  root  to  separate 
the  world  of  thought  of  the  learned  from  that  of  the 
plain  people.  The  character  of  the  time  is  decidedly 
democratic,  and  for  once  there  is  a  certain  social  equi- 
librium which  of  course  could  not  last  long.  Not  that 
all  the  people  were  of  the  same  opinion  nor  that  there 
was  an  absence  of  wretched  poverty,  but  on  the  whole 
the  contrasts  were  not  strong  enough  to  disturb  the 
general  uniformity.  Rich  and  poor,  high  and  low, 
prince,  commoner,  and  peasant,  understood  one  an- 
other ;  at  the  very  period  when  the  individual  began  to 
assert  himself  with  greater  decision  and  the  old  confed- 
erations showed  the  first  signs  of  dissolution,  the  ele- 
ments that  composed  the  inner  side  of  life  were  the  same. 
The  theory  of  life  of  the  mediaeval  times  had  been 
centred  in  the  universal  Church,  not  in  the  individual, 
his  convictions  and  conscience ;  life  worked  more  from 
without  than  from  within ;  unconditional  submission 
and  adoring  devotion  were  demanded ;  the  soul  was  the 


216  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

scene  of  the  combat  of  good  and  evil  spirits ;  man  had  no 
power,  no  liberty.  This  view  now  became  too  narrow, 
man  had  outgrown  all  the  narrowing  conditions  without 
being  conscious  of  it ;  the  zwivel,  the  inner  conflict,  of 
which  we  hear  so  much  in  mediaeval  poetry,  was  a 
symptom  of  the  awakening  reason.  In  more  shallow 
characters  this  unrest  encouraged  a  greater  enjoyment 
of  the  material  side  of  life. 

This  was  the  tune  of  the  Volkslied,  the  songs  of  the  peo- 
ple, not  merely  of  the  lower  classes,  but  of  the  whole  na- 
tion; and  therefore  the  Volkslied  is  the  best  and  most 
faithful  witness  of  German  character  and  national  life  in 
the  fifteenth  century.  It  is  a  common  practice  in  these 
Volkslieder  for  the  author  to  tell  us  something  about 
himself  —  indeed,  the  whole  song  may  be  a  narrative 
of  his  own  heart-breaking  or  enjoyable  experiences. 
Very  often  he  describes  his  station  in  life,  and  we  see 
that  all  classes  take  part  in  the  production  of  the  songs ; 
one  author  makes  himself  known  as  a  nobleman,  an- 
other as  a  beggar ;  we  find  students,  soldiers,  hunters, 
a  "rich  peasant's  son,"  a  young  cleric,  and  many  other 
callings,  sometimes  even  a  girl  confesses  to  having  com- 
posed the  song.  Good  living,  Schlemmen,  good  eating 
and  drinking,  and  love  are  the  ideals  portrayed  in  these 
songs.  The  joy  of  living,  die  Lebensfreude,  is  the  key- 
note of  all  of  them ;  even  when  an  unhappy  love  breaks 
the  young  heart,  the  appreciation  of  happiness  is  shown 
by  the  very  longing  for  it.  But  it  is  essential  that  nature 
have  a  share  in  this  joy.  The  German  feels  himself  at 
one  with  nature  and  in  sympathy  with  it  in  pleasures 
and  sorrows.  One  short  love  song  which  shows  a  girl, 
herself  unfortunate,  feeling  doubly  wretched  when 
she  hears  of  the  happiness  of  her  companion,  may  serve 
as  an  illustration: 


xxm  THE   HEIGHT  OF  NATIONAL  LIFE  217 

"I  heard  a  sickle  rustling, 

'Twas  rustling  through  the  corn, 
I  heard  a  fair  maid  wailing, 
Her  love  she  had  forlorn. 

Let  rustle,  dear,  let  rustle, 
What  comes  I  do  not  mind ; 
In  violets  and  sweet  clover 
A  sweetheart  I  did  find.' 

"If  in  violets  and  sweet  clover 

A  sweetheart  thou  didst  find, 
Then  I  must  stand  here  lonely 
And  sadness  fills  my  mind.'  " 

Thus  the  happiness  of  the  Germans,  to  whom  Luther, 
himself  one  of  them,  was  about  to  preach,  was  not 
very  idealistic.  A  merry  drinking  bout,  a  fine  brown 
maiden  or  a  beautiful  lady,  May,  the  " pleasure  month" 
as  the  Germans  call  it,  sunshine,  the  forest  with  its 
green  trees  and  its  animals,  or  the  fields  with  their 
flowers,  the  song  of  the  "dear"  nightingale,  or  his  own 
"Lied"  and  music  on  the  lute,  —  these  were  the  objects 
of  his  desires  as  expressed  in  the  Volkslied.  But  beneath 
this  uniformly  gay  surface,  strong  personalities  were  dis- 
engaging themselves  from  the  mass,  the  fermentation 
was  at  work  which  was  to  change  the  current  of  Western 
civilization. 

Both  the  feeling  of  personality  and  the  joy  in  mere 
living  for  life's  sake,  as  well  as  for  material  prosperity, 
found  expression  in  all  the  different  spheres  of  human 
interest,  being,  of  course,  most  apparent  in  external 
conditions. 

The  old  Germanic  mode  of  dress  experienced  few 
changes  as  long  as  the  standard  of  life  remained  the 
same  for  all  classes.  The  Meroving  kings  still  rode 
through  their  country  in  an  ox-cart.  The  apparel 


218  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

of  Charles  the  Great  was  the  same  as  that  of  his 
Frankish  courtiers,  a  little  more  magnificent,  per- 
haps, on  state  occasions;  for  all  classes  of  the  peo- 
ple the  description  of  Tacitus  still  held  good,  save 
that  the  dress  of  women  was  closed  about  the  neck  and 
lengthened  in  the  sleeve  and  skirt.  Only  once  or  twice 
Charles  the  Great  donned  the  splendor  of  Roman  dress 
to  please  the  Pope.  The  imperial  robes  in  which  we  so 
often  see  him  represented,  as  in  the  well-known  ideal 
portrait  by  Albrecht  Diirer,  belong  to  a  later  period. 
But  increasing  wealth,  contact  with  foreign  fashions  dur- 
ing the  Crusades,  and  especially  the  influence  of  French 
Chivalry  wrought  a  great  change.  Many-colored  cos- 
tumes follow  each  other  in  continual  variety,  both 
among  men  and  women.  Headgear,  unknown  in 
Roman  times,  appeared  first  hi  the  shape  of  straw  hats, 
but  changed  with  the  dress;  shoes  became  pointed 
(Schnabelschuhe) ,  the  points  becoming  finally  so  long 
that  they  hindered  walking  unless  tied  by  a  ribbon  to 
the  knees.  The  budding  self-consciousness  tries  to 
attract  attention  by  every  means.  The  detachable 
sleeves  of  the  upper  garment  are  widened  to  that  they 
drag  on  the  ground.  Party-colored  garments  become 
the  fashion ;  the  coats  are  jagged ;  as  if  the  loud  colors 
did  not  attract  attention  enough,  bells  are  attached, 
first  on  belts,  then  on  all  possible  and  impossible  places. 
Later  this  motley  becomes  the  costume  of  fools,  who 
still  strut  about  in  it  in  the  modern  Carnival. 

Personality  becomes  more  and  more  conscious  of 
itself,  and  after  art  had  learned  to  reproduce  the  human 
body  in  a  naturalistic  way  the  so-called  Burgundian 
fashion  is  adopted,  in  which  the  garments  are  tightly 
fitting  and  show  the  outlines  of  the  body,  even  emphasiz- 
ing them ;  men's  and  women's  garments  are  both  cut 


xxni  THE  HEIGHT   OF  NATIONAL  LIFE  219 

lower  about  the  neck  and  shortened.  The  moralists 
preach  against  this ;  and,  indeed,  even  our  modern  sen- 
sibilities are  rather  shocked  by  some  features.  The 
tightness  became  at  last  so  excessive  that  it  prevented 
free  movements,  and  the  sleeves  were  first  slit  open  at  the 
elbows,  showing  the  silk  lining ;  more  slits  were  made  and 
used  for  decorative  purposes  in  other  parts  of  the  dress. 
Up  to  that  time  the  coat  had  been  slipped  over  the  head, 
but  the  inconvenience  of  putting  on  such  tight  garments 
in  that  way  led  to  the  use  of  buttons  and  buttonholes, 
which  at  the  same  tune  made  even  fitting  garments  pos- 
sible. Our  modern  coats  had  their  origin  in  these. 
The  material  was  sometimes  of  the  richest  quality ;  fur, 
feathers,  precious  metals,  and  gems  were  used  for  orna- 
mentation. 

There  were  many  opportunities  to  display  these  fin- 
eries in  public.  Holidays  were  frequent.  Private  life 
in  the  family,  as  well  as  public  and  Church  life,  offered 
a  continuous  round  of  festivities  hi  which  the  old  Ger- 
manic traits  of  hospitality  and  conviviality  found  lavish 
expression.  Here  the  impoverished  nobility  could  not 
rival  the  rich  merchants  of  the  cities,  who  regarded 
them  as  peasants  while  they  were  nicknamed  by  them 
"  pepperbags. "  The  luxuriously  furnished  houses  of 
the  merchant  patricians  were  decorated  with  wood- 
carvings  and  tapestries,  stained-glass  windows,  and 
metal-wrought  dishes,  to  which  towards  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  century  porcelain  from  China  was  added  as  a 
newly  imported  luxury.  At  their  feasts  a  great  variety 
of  food  and  drink  from  all  parts  of  the  world  was  served. 
Baking  had  been  greatly  unproved ;  cakes,  tarts,  and 
pretzels  were  still  prepared  at  home,  but  fine  confection- 
ery could  be  bought  at  the  apothecary's.  Spices,  such 
as  pepper,  saffron,  ginger,  cloves,  nutmeg,  cubebs,  cin- 


220  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

namon,  and  others,  were  extensively  used,  especially  in 
preparing  meats  and  gravies.  These  spices  would 
probably  be  too  sharp  for  present  taste  —  a  fact  which  is 
often  given  to  explain  the  heavy  drinking  of  the  times, 
as  if  a  healthy  thirst  had  been  a  foreign  thing  to  Ger- 
mans before  sharp  spices  were  known  to  them !  All 
these  delicate  dishes  were  eaten  without  forks,  although 
the  first  ones  had  been  brought  to  Germany  in  the  four- 
teenth century.  As  late  as  the  sixteenth  century  we 
hear  of  preachers  condemning  their  use  as  being  against 
the  will  of  the  Lord,  who  would  not  have  given  us  fingers, 
if  he  wanted  us  to  use  forks. 

All  articles  of  consumption  were  keenly  supervised 
by  the  city  authorities  as  to  purity  and  correct  weight. 
Adulteration  of  wine  is  frequently  mentioned  and  even 
caused  legislation  by  the  Reichstag,  the  Diet  of  the  Em- 
pire. Of  all  festive  occasions  in  family  life  weddings 
held  first  place.  The  luxury  displayed  in  presents, 
hospitality,  and  dress,  even  by  plainer  people,  was  ex- 
cessive. The  celebration  lasted  from  three  days  to  a 
fortnight.  The  blessing  hi  church  often  took  place 
long  after  the  wedding,  the  betrothal  being  really  the 
binding  act. 

In  the  great  number  of  holidays  we  miss  the  greatest 
of  German  family  days  of  present  tunes,  to  wit,  Christ- 
mas. The  Christmas  tree  is  not,  as  has  been  generally 
believed,  a  relic  of  old  German  heathenism,  but  is  rather 
a  modern  institution,  the  first  references  to  it  dating 
from  the  seventeenth  century.  It  finds  an  analogy  hi 
Roman  rather  than  in  German  antiquity.  New  Year 
and  Twelfth  Night  were  more  observed  than  Christmas, 
but  above  all  festivals  stood  the  Carnival. 

The  arrangement  of  public  festivals  was  one  of  the 
duties  of  the  city  council,  who  attended  to  them  very 


xxiii  THE  HEIGHT  OF  NATIONAL  LIFE  221 

conscientiously.  A  city  cook  was  one  of  the  officials  in 
many  cities.  Of  course,  the  councillors  saw  that  their 
own  wine,  beer,  and  food  were  of  the  best  quality  and 
gave  the  citizens  an  opportunity  to  partake  of  good  things 
of  guaranteed  excellence  by  establishing  in  the  base- 
ment of  the  city  hall  the  Ratskeller,  the  council's  cellar, 
of  which  some,  especially  the  one  in  Bremen,  have  ac- 
quired literary  fame.  Large  banqueting  rooms  and 
dancing  halls  were  provided  by  the  city  governments ; 
the  Gurzenich  in  Koln,  perhaps  the  most  splendid,  has 
preserved  its  character  to  the  present  day. 

Intemperance  in  eating  and  drinking  was  the  ruling 
vice  of  the  time ;  foreign  travellers  refer  to  it  with  dis- 
gusted horror,  feelings  the  reader  would  share,  if  I 
should  mention  some  particulars.  Everything  we  see 
and  hear  of  intemperance  to-day  is  almost  teetotalism 
as  compared  with  the  excesses  of  that  period  in  Ger- 
many. Only  once  again  was  there  a  similar  state  of 
affairs,  caused,  curiously  enough,  by  exactly  opposite  con- 
ditions ;  whereas  in  the  period  we  are  speaking  of  the 
excesses  were  caused  by  overgreat  prosperity ;  it  appears 
that  at  the  time  of  deep  misery  following  the  Thirty 
Years'  War  despair  caused  equal  recklessness  in  de- 
bauchery. 

In  the  country  the  jollification  was  closer  to  nature. 
Dancing  in  the  open  was  frequently  indulged  in.  As 
to-day,  or  rather  much  more  so,  the  holiday  of  the 
patron  saint,  das  Kirchweihfest  or  die  Kirmes,  was  the 
greatest  feasting  time;  it  lasted  for  a  week.  Some- 
times several  neighboring  villages  united  in  a  common 
celebration. 

With  all  its  disgusting  features  the  rudeness  of  the 
times  was  mitigated  by  an  all-pervading  humor  of  a 
Philistine,  and  sometimes  coarse  and  obscene,  kind; 


222  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

the  teasing  of  one's  neighbors  was  a  favorite  pastime 
with  Germans  from  the  oldest  tunes,  nicknames  were 
given  to  rival  tribes,  to  the  different  classes  of  the  popu- 
lation, and  anecdotes  told  which  have  survived  down  to 
our  own  day.  It  happened  as  another  consequence  of 
the  growing  individualism  that  family  names  came 
into  use  at  this  time,  and  in  these  the  people  gave  full 
sway  to  then*  humorous  disposition ;  any  German  city 
directory  will  furnish  plenty  of  examples  which  date 
back  to  this  period. 

This  humor  can  be  observed  likewise  in  the  names  of 
streets,  places,  pieces  of  apparel,  dishes,  drinks,  arms, 
especially  cannons,  animals,  plants,  and  all  kinds  of 
implements,  including  the  gallows.  It  entered  religious 
life  and  art,  and  is  preserved  in  the  sculptures  of  cathe- 
drals and  city  halls.  Even  the  solemn  practice  of  the 
law  was  not  safe  from  this  trait,  and  many  ridiculous 
punishments  bear  witness  to  it.  A  great  many  of  the 
rather  drastic  proverbs  with  which  the  German  people 
like  to  adorn  their  speech  come  from  those  days.  Any 
one  familiar  with  German  life  will  know  that  this  not 
exactly  refined,  but  generally  kind-hearted  and  broad- 
minded,  humor  is  still  alive.  Anger  over  some  real  or 
imagined  injury  will  often  find  expression  in  coarse 
humor.  This  gives  an  outlet  to  all  feelings  of  revenge 
and  prevents  that  mean  feeling  of  lasting  spite  which 
may  nurse  itself  for  a  long  time  to  take  advantage  of 
an  unguarded  moment  to  stab  the  enemy.  Nowhere 
outside  of  Germany  is  there  such  a  variety  of  names, 
taken  from  zoology  or  other  realms,  which  can  be  applied 
to  friend  or  enemy.  However  coarse  they  may  sound 
translated  into  another  language,  they  must  be  taken 
in  a  humorous  sense,  and  are  used  almost  invariably 
only  where  real  animosity  is  excluded  by  personal 


xxni  THE   HEIGHT  OF  NATIONAL  LIFE  223 

relations.  Hateful  swearing  and  cursing  is  not  a 
common  habit  in  Germany,  although  it  would  be 
ridiculous  to  deny  its  occurrence  altogether;  perhaps 
Germans  make  up  by  greater  variety  for  their  lack  in 
intensity  in  this  respect. 

As  to  the  total  impression  made  by  German  cities  of 
the  times,  foreign  travellers  are  unanimous  in  praising 
their  imposing  appearance.  "If  we  wander  through 
the  most  remarkable  of  these  cities,"  says  ^Eneas 
Sylvius,  the  humanist,  later  Pope  Pius  II,  "the  mag- 
nificence of  the  people  and  the  beauty  of  the  country 
will  shine  out  brightly  before  our  eyes.  Where  in 
Europe  could  be  found  a  more  splendid  city  than 
Koln?"  In  a  similar  way  he  expresses  himself  as  to 
other  cities.  The  burghers'  homes  appear  to  him  "fit 
for  princes."  "To  speak  sincerely,"  he  confesses,  "no 
country  in  Europe  has  better  and  more  friendly  cities 
than  Germany."  It  may  be  safe  to  assume  that  this 
account  is  somewhat  exaggerated,  in  order  to  show  that 
the  complaints  of  the  country's  becoming  impoverished 
by  the  money  sent  to  the  Pope  were  unfounded ;  but 
similar  statements  are  made  by  many  contemporary 
writers  of  all  nations.  Still  we  must  not  forget  that  in 
spite  of  the  magnificence  of  many  public  and  some 
private  buildings  and  the  generally  romantic  impres- 
sion we  get  of  mediaeval  cities  with  their  many  towers 
and  fortifications,  the  majority  of  houses  were  of  wood, 
the  streets  almost  all  unpaved,  the  better  ones  having 
a  road-bed  of  gravel ;  pigs  and  cows  were  allowed  to 
roam  at  large,  as  most  cities  still  preserved  their  agrarian 
character ;  street  illumination  at  night  was  unknown ; 
glass  windows  were  not  at  all  common.  Large  fires 
that  destroyed  whole  cities  were  frequent,  though 
we  find  fire  regulations  at  a  comparatively  early  day. 


224  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

A  small  squirt  —  one  could  not  very  well  call  it  an 
engine  —  began  to  be  used  at  fires  in  the  fifteenth 
century.  Of  paved  streets  we  hear  first  at  Liibeck, 
1310,  and  Nurnberg,  1368. 

The  physical  vigor  of  the  times  shows  itself  most 
plainly  in  the  increase  of  the  population.  This  had  been 
hindered  in  previous  centuries  by  the  numerous  epi- 
demics which  raged  with  a  violence  hardly  to  be  con- 
ceived by  modern  imaginations.  But  in  the  fifteenth 
century  hygienic  conditions  had  begun  to  improve, 
material  conditions  were  favorable,  and  thus  we  find 
that  families  with  twelve,  fifteen,  or  even  more  children 
were  not  uncommon ;  for  the  city  of  Erfurt  a  chronicle 
gives  an  average  of  eight  to  ten  children  per  family. 
Children  born  out  of  wedlock  were  frequent ;  they  grew 
up  in  their  father's  house  with  their  half-brothers  and 
sisters,  and  for  a  long  time  no  disgrace  was  attached 
to  then*  state.  According  to  many  writers  the  state 
of  morals  as  regards  relations  between  the  sexes  cannot 
have  been  high.  In  so  far  as  this  conclusion  is  drawn 
principally  from  the  laws  passed  at  the  time,  it  is  a  ques- 
tion whether  we  have  a  right  to  say  that  certain  abuses 
were  frequent  merely  because  severe  punishments  were 
set  on  them.  This  severity  may  just  as  well  indicate 
that  such  were  exceptional  cases.  From  legislation 
proposed  recently  in  Washington,  a  future  historian 
might  conclude  with  equal  justification  that  the  modern 
Americans  were  a  nation  of  wife  beaters.  People  were 
not  so  easily  shocked  in  those  days,  and  many  things 
appeared  to  them  but  natural  which  we  should  find 
disgusting.  After  all,  Albrecht  von  Eyb,  in  his  treatise 
"  Whether  a  Man  Ought  to  Take  a  Wife  or  Not," 
printed  in  1472,  seems  to  express  the  common  view  of  the 
Germans  of  his  time  when  he  says:  "Marriage  is  a 


xxni  THE  HEIGHT  OF  NATIONAL  LIFE  225 

useful,  wholesome  thing:  by  it  many  a  conflict  and 
war  is  quieted,  relationship  and  good  friendship  formed, 
and  the  whole  human  race  perpetuated.  Matrimony 
is  also  a  merry,  pleasurable  and  sweet  thing.  What  is 

merrier  and  sweeter  than  the  names  of  father  and 

• 

mother  and  the  children  hanging  on  their  parents' 
necks  ?  If  married  people  have  the  right  love  and  the 
right  will  for  one  another,  their  joy  and  sorrow  are 
common  to  them  and  they  enjoy  the  good  things  the 
more  merrily  and  bear  the  adverse  things  the  more 
easily." 

The  position  of  women  was  not  a  very  high  one; 
her  sphere  was  the  home,  and  she  is  not  often  men- 
tioned; still  we  learn  of  some  women  of  a  rather 
exceptionally  high  education. 

In  spite  of  all  the  joy  in  the  material  side  of  life, 
intellectual  interests  were  not  neglected.  It  is  true 
the  period  is  sterile  hi  literature  of  a  higher  class, 
didactic  poetry,  satire,  and  some  plays  furnishing  the 
only  works  worth  mentioning.  The  beginnings  of  the 
drama  go  far  back,  and  passion  plays  and  moralities  form 
an  important  part  in  the  public  entertainments.  But 
if  production  was  not  very  high,  still  there  must  have 
been  a  taste  for  reading  in  all  classes  of  the  population ; 
otherwise  the  rapidity  with  which  a  few  decades  later 
the  pamphlets  of  Luther  and  other  writers  of  the 
Reformation  period  spread  all  over  Germany  cannot 
be  explained. 

The  rise  of  the  cities  and  their  commerce  could  not 
fail  to  break  the  monopoly  of  the  clergy  in  education. 
Reading,  writing,  and,  very  soon,  arithmetic  became  a 
necessity.  And  very  early  we  find  German  schools  of 
a  secular  character,  but  under  the  supervision  of  the 
Church.  The  first  schools  of  this  kind  were  called 


226  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

writing  schools  (Schriefschoolen) .  Many  cities  had  also 
Latin  schools.  In  the  fifteenth  century  we  find  the 
first  mention  of  girls'  schools  in  Liibeck  and  Niirnberg. 
These  schools  were  run  in  the  manner  of  the  craft- 
guilds.  The  principal  or  rector  was  appointed  by  the 
council  for  one  year  and  he  hired  his  own  assistants. 
The  rector's  salary  was  forty  florins  a  year  at  the  most. 
His  assistants  were  not  of  a  very  high  standard ;  former 
monks,  clerics,  students,  and  adventurers  supplied  the 
greatest  part  of  them.  Sometimes  there  arose  a  quarrel 
between  the  city  council  and  the  Church  authorities 
as  to  the  control  of  the  school.  The  methods  were,  of 
course,  purely  mechanical.  Books  were  still  expensive, 
and  therefore  the  subject-matter  of  instruction  was 
usually  copied.  The  rod  and  the  switch  were  not 
spared.  Teachers  and  scholars  often  left  a  city  and 
took  up  their  residence  elsewhere;  about  the  vagrant 
scholars  there  will  be  occasion  to  speak  farther  on. 

The  first  improvement  in  school  management  was 
brought  about  by  The  Brethren  of  Common  Life,  an 
organization  which  originated  in  the  Netherlands. 
They  were  the  first  to  open  schools  for  the  common 
people,  real  Volksschulen;  they  emphasized  the  neces- 
sity of  an  active  Christian  life.  The  best-known  mem- 
ber of  the  community  is  the  famous  Thomas  a  Kempis, 
the  author  of  the  "Imitation  of  Christ."  By  them  the 
first  picture  book  for  children  was  published:  Der 
Seek  Trost,  "Consolation  of  the  Soul,"  containing 
illustrations  of  the  Ten  Commandments. 

The  most  important  advance  in  the  educational  world 
was  the  founding  of  the  universities.  The  University 
of  Prag  was  the  first  German  university ;  of  its  seven 
professors,  six  were  Germans,  the  seventh,  the  professor 
of  Roman  Law,  was  an  Italian ;  it  was  founded  in  1348. 


xxiii  THE   HEIGHT   OF  NATIONAL  LIFE  227 

Before  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century  five  more 
universities  had  been  opened,  while  the  fifteenth  century 
brought  ten  more.  At  first  the  universities  were  under 
control  of  the  Church,  with  a  charter  from  the  Pope. 
But  in  time  the  universities  gave  rise  to  an  independent 
class  of  scholars.  However  much  we  may  honor  these 
institutions  as  the  cradle  of  free  German  science,  they 
also  were  one  of  the  sources  of  that  fatal  separation 
of  the  German  nation  into  the  two  classes  of  the  learned 
and  unlearned,  die  Gebildeten  und  Ungebildeten,  which 
is  the  cause  of  much  national  unhappiness,  as  will  be 
seen  later. 

The  universities  owed  their  rapid  growth  perhaps 
principally  to  the  need  of  learned  jurists.  The  more 
complicated  conditions  of  the  new  economical  system, 
based  on  money  instead  of  agricultural  products,  and 
the  general  progress  of  life  had  favored  the  introduction 
of  Roman  law  into  Germany.  The  lack  of  unity  and  the 
encroachment  of  the  many  different  authorities  on 
each  other's  competencies  had  made  the  old  German 
laws  wholly  inefficient ;  there  had  been  great  difficulty 
in  developing  them  and  adapting  them  to  new  condi- 
tions. The  Roman  law  seemed  best  fitted  to  meet 
these.  The  Italian  policy  of  the  emperors  had  already 
led  to  its  adoption  for  certain  interpretations  of  imperial 
authority,  in  fact  it  was  called  simply  the  Emperor's 
law,  das  Kaiserrecht.  The  forms  of  law  were  found 
ready  for  use  in  the  Code  of  Justinian.  Beginning 
with  the  twelfth  century,  a  continuous  current  of 
German  youths  find  then'  way  to  the  new  Italian  uni- 
versities, especially  Bologna  and  Padua.  The  German 
municipalities  soon  found  it  convenient  to  have  the 
advice  of  a  learned  jurist,  and  it  became  the  rule  to  have 
a  secretary  to  the  council  who  was  a  Doctor  of  Roman 


228  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

Law.  This  was  the  starting  point  for  a  steadily  grow- 
ing increase  of  professionally  trained  officials;  and  the 
jurists  gained  control  of  all  administrative  work, 
which  they  have  kept  to  this  day,  in  spite  of  increasingly 
emphatic  demands  to  break  with  this  old  custom. 

The  introduction  of  Roman  law  into  Germany  seems, 
on  the  whole,  to  have  been  accomplished  without  much 
friction;  its  character  was  recognized  only  when  it  was  too 
late.  Most  strange  perhaps  to  the  German  mind  was  the 
conception  of  property  as  an  object  of  personal  and  arbi- 
trary power,  to  the  German  it  always  carried  rights  and 
duties.  There  is  a  strong  contrast  between  the  famous 
non  olet  of  the  Roman  Emperor  and  the  conception  of  the 
Sachsenspiegel,  which  says:  " Property  without  honor 
is  no  property,  and  a  body  without  honor  is  dead ;  but 
all  honor  proceeds  from  faithfulness."  The  ruling 
social  powers,  the  capitalists  in  the  cities  and  the  great 
and  small  territorial  lords,  found  the  Roman  law  favor- 
able to  then-  interests.  To  the  former  it  furnished  the 
necessary  foundation  for  their  capitalistic  tendencies, 
for  which  there  was  little  support  either  in  the  German 
law  or  the  canonical  law  of  the  Church,  which  found 
its  social  ideal  in  communism.  The  territorial  lords 
found  the  Roman  law  to  their  advantage  because  it  was 
free  from  the  traditions  of  the  German  Markgenos- 
setischaft,  which  could  thus  lawfully  be  ignored.  The 
people,  however,  were  little  aware  at  first  of  the  deep 
contrasts  in  the  new  law,  although  they  smarted  under 
the  legal  disability  of  the  poor  in  favor  of  the  rich  and 
powerful,  a  fact  which  helped  to  feed  the  dissatisfaction 
which  had  begun  to  take  hold  of  the  peasants  and  the 
proletariate  of  the  cities. 

The  demand  for  legally  trained  officials  increased 
continually,  and  as  it  was  a  time  when  the  desire  for 


xxni  THE  HEIGHT   OF  NATIONAL  LIFE  229 

improvement,  for  rising  in  social  position,  was  remark- 
ably common  to  all  classes,  the  new  profession  was  not 
by  any  means  confined  to  the  sons  of  the  wealthy. 
The  students  of  the  universities  were  recruited  from  all 
classes  of  the  population;  the  academic  degree  of 
Doctor  juris  placed  its  holder  in  the  first  social  rank  and 
was  as  valuable  as  a  patent  of  nobility.  This  condi- 
tion of  affairs  especially  benefited  the  territorial  lords, 
as  the  abundance  of  trained  jurists  made  them  inde- 
pendent of  the  nobility  in  the  appointments  to  official 
positions, — a  great  help  towards  the  centralization  of 
power  against  the  rise  of  the  Estates. 

The  general  rudeness  showed  itself  also  in  the  legal 
punishments.  Under  the  influence  of  the  canonical 
and  Italian  law,  torture  and  evidence  by  witness  as  well 
as  documentary  proof  had  been  introduced.  The 
death  penalty  in  different  forms  was  frequent,  and 
some  of  its  most  savage  abominations  were  German 
inventions.  The  persecution  of  witches  and  heretics 
will  be  treated  in  another  chapter. 

Perhaps  the  most  incisive  change  of  the  new  law  was 
the  prosecution  of  crime  by  the  authorities  instead  of 
through  the  individual  complaint  of  the  injured  party. 
The  courts,  however,  still  remained,  as  of  old,  to  a  large 
extent  people's  courts  with  a  representation  of  the  lay 
element.  The  reason  why  the  Roman  law  was  so  much 
more  readily  accepted  in  Germany  than  in  England 
and  France  must  be  found  in  part  in  the  lack  of  a  strong 
national  central  power  which  was  able  to  bring  about 
a  natural  adaptation  of  the  old  Germanic  traditions. 
While  the  new  law  found  no  entrance  whatever  in  many 
parts  of  Germany,  its  influence  on  the  whole  has  been 
very  great,  although  the  vitality  of  the  native  law  was 
persistent  enough  to  find  expression  in  the  legislation 


230  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

of  the  present  German  Empire.  The  laws  of  Switzer- 
land and  England  have  kept  themselves  almost  entirely 
free  from  any  Roman  influence. 

The  power  of  the  great  vassals,  the  territorial  lords, 
had  greatly  increased  since  the  decay  of  Chivalry, 
which  had  steadily  continued  since  the  times  of  Rudolph 
von  Habsburg,  and  the  battle  on  the  March  Field,  the 
last  victory  in  history  to  be  won  by  the  knightly  mode 
of  warfare.  They  had  learned  very  much  from  their 
enemies,  the  cities,  and  slowly  began  to  take  their 
place  as  the  leading  elements  of  national  life.  The 
great  drawback,  however,  was  that  the  new  condition 
required  money,  not  only  for  the  running  expenses  of 
administration,  but  especially  for  the  payment  of  mer- 
cenaries for  the  conduct  of  their  frequent  wars.  Public 
loans  were  one  expedient  introduced  at  this  time;  but 
they  had  to  be  paid  back  and  demanded  annual  interest. 
Thus  taxation  remained  the  principal  means  of  income. 
The  Estates  exercised  some  constitutional  control  over 
the  finances.  Their  origin  as  a  power  in  territorial 
government  is  not  very  clear.  The  Estates  were  :  the 
Nobility,  the  Cities,  and,  though  not  everywhere,  the 
Clergy ;  they  formed  a  territorial  Diet  and  their  politi- 
cal power  rose  and  fell  in  proportion  to  the  financial 
needs  of  the  princes.  A  beginning  of  these  "Estates 
of  the  Realm"  was  also  noticeable  in  England,  but  the 
early  existence  of  Parliament  and  the  emancipation  of 
the  peasants  prevented  the  development  of  this  insti- 
tution there.  In  German  states  the  Stdndeverfas- 
sungen,  the  Estates,  lasted  into  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  in  the  Grand  Duchies  of  Mecklenburg  are  still  in 
existence,  although  their  abolition  is  now  under  dis- 
cussion. The  endeavors  of  the  territorial  princes, 
large  or  small,  to  increase  their  power,  to  make  them- 


xxm  THE  HEIGHT  OF  NATIONAL  LIFE  231 

selves  independent  of  the  Estates,  and  to  bring  under 
their  control  the  cities  and  the  smaller  noblemen  within 
their  territories,  are,  besides  the  religious  issue,  the 
principal  feature  of  German  internal  politics  for  cen- 
turies to  come. 

The  imperial  government  had  in  the  meantime  not 
increased  in  power,  although  the  uncertainty  of  condi- 
tions had  shown  the  desirability  of  a  strong  central 
authority,  and  repeated  efforts  had  been  made  to 
strengthen  it,  yet  nobody  wanted  to  sacrifice  any  of  his 
prerogatives  in  favor  of  the  national  welfare.  The 
greatest  power  was  possessed  by  the  Prince-Electors, 
four  secular  and  three  ecclesiastical,  who  had  the  right 
to  elect  the  emperors  and  wrenched  all  kinds  of  privileges 
from  them  by  means  of  promises  exacted  in  return  for 
their  electoral  votes  (Wahlcapitulatiori). 

There  was  a  bitter  hostility  between  the  different 
classes.  The  territorial  lords  in  their  endeavors  to 
increase  their  power  were  in  a  state  of  constant  quarrel- 
ling with  the  small  nobility  and  the  cities,  which  in  turn 
were  hostile  to  each  other;  the  peasants  resented  the 
contempt  and  oppression  of  all  the  other  classes.  Fre- 
quent outbreaks  gave  evidence  of  these  inimical 
feelings. 

The  most  hated  class  of  all,  always  named  together 
with  the  Jews  in  the  accounts  of  the  time,  was  the 
clergy,  whose  worldly  habits  and  general  unfitness  for 
their  calling  aroused  anger  and  contempt.  The  greatest 
oppression  was  found  in  the  ecclesiastical  territories. 
The  Mendicant  orders,  however,  the  Franciscans  and 
the  Dominicans,  had  taken  a  strong  hold  of  the  people, 
whose  language  they  talked  and  whose  life  they  shared. 

There  were,  nevertheless,  smaller  divisions  within  the 
great  classes.  Each  guild  was  in  reality  a  separate  and 


232  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

most  exclusive  class  of  society.  Every  German  in 
reality  had  a  double  personality,  his  own  and  that  as  a 
member  of  a  class,  and  accordingly  he  had  a  double 
honor.  The  ties  which  formerly  were  those  of  blood 
were  now  replaced  by  the  common  interests  of  his 
class.  This  exclusive  class  feeling  is  one  of  the  worst 
sides  of  the  German  character  to-day. 

Even  from  olden  times  there  were  the  outclassed, 
die  Unehrlichen.  It  will  not  seem  so  strange  to  modern 
eyes,  unjust  as  it  may  be,  to  see  under  this  ban  all 
stage-players,  vagrants,  and  keepers  of  bathhouses, 
who  also  were  barbers;  but  it  is  hard  to  understand 
why  in  many  places  shepherds,  millers,  and  linen 
weavers  should  not  have  been  deemed  respectable. 
Was  it  a  reminiscence  of  the  Kelts  and  Slavs,  the  old 
slaves,  captured  in  war?  Or  was  the  shepherd  sus- 
pected of  being  the  confederate  of  the  sinister  demons 
of  nature,  just  as  superstition  makes  him  the  master  of 
secret  arts  to-day?  Or  was  it  because  the  miller  and 
the  weaver  were  easily  tempted  to  appropriate  some  of 
the  raw  material  intrusted  to  them  to  be  worked  up  and 
returned?  When  the  decay  of  the  guilds  set  in,  their 
selfishness  affords  an  easy  explanation.  In  order  to 
diminish  competition  they  found  an  ever  greater 
number  of  callings  which  would  bar  the  children  of 
parents  belonging  to  them  from  learning  a  trade.  It 
was  not  until  much  later  that  the  government  began 
to  intercede  for  the  victims  of  this  injustice. 

In  the  scientific  life  of  the  earlier  Middle  Ages  the 
Germans  had  not  taken  a  large  part,  Albrecht,  Count  of 
Bollstadt,  called  Albertus  Magnus,  being  almost  the 
only  German  scholar  mentioned.  Nevertheless,  the 
Germans  had  an  important  share  both  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  canonic  law  and  of  scholasticism.  It  was 


xxiii  THE  HEIGHT  OF  NATIONAL  LIFE  233 

Albertus  Magnus  who  first  clearly  distinguished  between 
theology  and  philosophy,  a  distinction  taken  up  by  his 
disciple  Thomas  Aquinas.  And  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury Germany  contributed  largely  to  many  sciences, 
especially  to  mathematics.  Many  inventions  of  their 
genius  have  already  been  mentioned.  As  a  curiosity,  I 
may  add  that  we  have  reports  of  wagons  driven  with- 
out horses  from  at  least  two  German  cities  during  the 
fifteenth  century. 

In  addition  to  the  artistic  products  of  the  crafts 
mentioned  in  the  last  chapter,  German  culture  of  the 
time  shows  to  the  greatest  advantage  in  pure  art.  The 
masterpieces  of  Holbein,  who  later  went  to  England, 
and  Diirer,  unexcelled  in  drawing,  are  at  the  end  of  a 
long  line  of  steady  national  development  which  did 
not  attain  its  height,  as  is  often  erroneously  believed, 
as  an  outgrowth  of  the  Italian  renaissance.  Here 
art  rises  above  mere  imitation  to  ideal  reproduction. 
The  sense  for  color  and  light  found  only  slow  develop- 
ment, though  in  the  Netherlands  it  was  greatly  en- 
hanced by  the  perfection  of  oil  painting  by  the  brothers 
ten  Eyck.  If  any  proof  was  needed  for  the  originality 
of  the  German  genius,  we  need  but  look  at  its  achieve- 
ments in  architecture,  in  which  it  far  excels  anything 
produced  at  so  early  a  time  on  the  classic  soil  of  Italy. 

Germany  is  thus  ready  to  enter  upon  the  modern 
period  as  the  equal  in  civilization  of  the  other  Western 
nations  —  although  not  showing  to  advantage  in  exter- 
nal grace  and  beauty  in  which  her  Romance  neighbors 
are  still  superior.  The  greatest  achievement  of  the 
Romans,  their  law,  has  been  introduced,  to  the  dissatis- 
faction of  the  great  mass  of  the  people.  There  still 
exists  a  feeling  that  the  foreign  civilization,  represented 
principally  by  the  Roman  Church,  is  not  adapted  to 


234        HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION    CHAP,  xxm 

Germanic  character,  and  the  eternal  war  of  the  German 
against  the  Roman  is  about  to  stir  the  Western  world  in 
a  new  explosion  and  to  free  the  human  mind  from 
bondage. 

It  may  not  be  improper  to  conclude  this  chapter  with 
the  words  of  Luther,  written  in  1521,  showing  how  the 
time  of  which  he  is  the  greatest  personage  impresses 
him  : 

"If  any  one  should  read  all  the  chronicles  he  will  not 
find  since  the  birth  of  Christ  anything  like  these  hun- 
dred years  in  every  respect.  Such  building  and  plant- 
ing has  never  been  so  common  in  this  world;  neither 
has  such  delicious  food  and  drink  been  so  common  as 
it  is  now.  Thus  clothing  has  become  so  precious  that 
it  may  not  come  higher.  Who,  furthermore,  has  read 
of  such  merchants  as  are  sailing  now  around  the  world 
and  devouring  all  the  world  ?  Thus  all  arts  are  rising 
and  have  risen :  painting,  engraving,  embroidering, 
that  there  was  not  the  like  of  it  since  the  birth  of 
Christ.  Besides  there  are  now  such  sharp,  intelligent 
people  as  to  leave  nothing  hidden,  to  such  degree,  it 
must  be  added,  that  a  boy  of  twenty  at  present  knows 
more  than  formerly  twenty  doctors  have  known." 


CHAPTER    XXIV 

RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

The  Age  of  Luther 

FOR  the  first  time  in  our  survey  of  the  evolution  of 
German  civilization  we  meet  with  a  great  man  who  has 
risen  out  of  the  heart  of  his  people  and  who  seems  to  be 
the  incarnation  of  the  national  spirit,  although  many 
traits  may  have  become  national  because  they  were  his. 
It  is  not  only  because  Charles  the  Great  and  Otto  the 
Great,  hi  short,  the  whole  number  of  excellent  rulers 
from  the  rise  of  the  German  Empire  to  the  death  of  the 
Hohenstaufers,  are  so  far  removed  in  time  that  the  effect 
of  their  life  work  seems  less  incisive,  but  also  because 
they  were  not  so  essentially  of  the  people,  and  their 
work  was  not  so  directly  for  and  with  the  people  as  that 
of  Martin  Luther.  He  is  the  first  great  German  whose 
greatness  his  modern  countrymen  feel  directly  and 
whom  they  know,  not  from  the  study  of  books  alone, 
but  by  live  traditions,  one  might  almost  say  from 
personal  experience. 

For  us,  to  whom  persons  as  well  as  conditions  and 
events  are  of  interest  only  in  so  far  as  they  have  left 
their  imprint  on  the  German  soul,  the  question  as  to 
whether  great  men  are  the  only  historical  agents,  the 
true  bearers  of  progress,  is  not  essential ;  yet  as  it  will 
be  necessary  for  any  one  discussing  historical  develop- 
ment to  take  a  definite  stand  on  this  problem,  I  may 
state  that  in  my  opinion  a  great  man  is  like  a  keystone 

235 


236  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

in  human  history,  a  product  of  his  times,  who  by  a 
fortunate  disposition  of  nature  is  enabled  to  receive 
and  give  forth  again  the  leading  tendencies  of  the  age, 
but  as  such  is  only  one  of  the  factors  which  decide  the 
trend  of  human  evolution. 

In  so  far  as  a  great  man  has  an  idealizing  influence  on 
his  nation  it  may  not  always  be  his  true  character  as 
revealed  by  exact  scientific  research  which  is  important 
for  our  consideration,  but  rather,  perhaps,  the  ideal 
man  as  he  appears  in  popular  tradition,  receiving  credit 
for  great  deeds  he  never  performed,  and  exercising  an 
immense  influence  by  virtues  he  may  never  have  pos- 
sessed. The  former,  the  real  man,  may  explain  many 
of  the  immediate  consequences  of  his  life  in  his  time ; 
the  latter,  the  ideal,  however,  exercises  a  lasting  influ- 
ence on  all  posterity.  Perhaps  the  Luther  as  described 
here  may  have  more  of  the  latter  than  of  the  former 
character. 

The  sixteenth  century  is  justly  called  the  first  century 
of  modern  times,  the  distinctive  character  of  which  is  the 
deliverance  of  personality  from  the  bondage  of  author- 
ity. In  continuous  evolution  the  Germanic  mind  had 
built  up  its  own  culture,  which  for  the  first  time  has 
made  the  individual  the  centre  of  interest ;  it  is  there- 
fore not  far  out  of  the  way  to  designate  our  modern 
civilization  as  essentially  Germanic. 

After  the  art  of  printing  had  furnished  the  means  for 
every  one  to  participate  in  the  progress  of  the  human 
intellect,  after  Columbus  had  succeeded  in  the  greatest 
scientific  experiment  ever  witnessed,  two  Germans 
drew  the  consequences  of  this  evolution  of  fifteen  cen- 
turies and  gave  us  —  the  world :  Luther  and  Coper- 
nicus, two  men  representing  the  greatest  contrasts 
imaginable  and  revealing  thus  the  depth  of  the  German 


xxiv  RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT  237 

soul.  And  curiously  enough,  the  passionate  man  of 
action,  ever  impelled  to  outward  manifestation,  the 
man  who  seems  to  be  at  his  best  in  the  heat  of  combat, 
who  cannot  be  kept  in  his  safe  retreat  at  the  risk  of  his 
life,  —  he  is  the  one  who  reveals  to  us  the  innermost 
life,  the  tender  world  of  emotions,  who  makes  us  rulers 
in  our  own  hearts,  while  the  quiet  scholar,  centred  in 
himself,  who  rather  shrinks  from  the  contact  of  the 
world,  and  only  with  great  pains  can  be  persuaded  to 
deliver  his  precious  message,  —  he  it  is  who  opens  for 
us  a  prospect  over  the  infinite  universe.  Yet  it  is  not 
so  curious,  after  all,  if  we  will  only  remember  that  it  is  a 
trait  of  the  German  character  to  try  to  make  the  out- 
side world  a  part  of  the  inner  self,  to  look  for  the  union 
of  the  power  that  lives  in  man  and  the  power  that  rules 
and  regulates  the  whole  universe,  that  union  on  which, 
for  the  German,  all  science  and  research,  all  ideal 
endeavor  and  all  moral  action,  are  based,  "  since  all 
truth  can  be  a  reflex  only  of  the  eternal,  original  truth." 
It  is  the  German's  way  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  one's 
heart,  to  rely  on  oneself  in  religious  and  moral  matters, 
not  to  abandon  one's  personality  with  resignation, 
but  to  assert  it  with  all  strength.  Thus  these  two  men 
stand  on  the  threshold  of  modern  times  as  venerable 
representatives  of  German  ideals,  and  foreshadow,  so 
to  speak,  the  words  of  that  greatest  of  German  thinkers, 
Immanuel  Kant,  which  may  be  read  on  his  tomb  in 
Konigsberg:  "Two  things  fill  my  heart  with  ever 
new  and  increasing  admiration  and  reverence,  the  more 
I  think  about  them  :  the  starry  heavens  above  me  and 
the  moral  law  within  me." 

But  what  the  age  needed  was  the  man  of  action,  a 
man  who  had  a  strong  fist  to  strike  and  destroy,  to 
make  room  in  order  that  a  new  world  might  grow,  and 


238  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

such  a  man  was  not  the  refined  and  elegant  humanist 
Copernicus,  but  the  straightforward,  energetic  peas- 
ant's son,  Martin  Luther. 

A  rupture  of  the  Germanic  world  and  the  Roman 
Church  was  from  the  start  foreshadowed  in  the  char- 
acter of  the  former.  Efforts  like  the  "Heliand"  to 
adapt  the  new  faith  to  the  nature  of  the  people  had 
not  achieved  lasting  success.  There  are  elements  in 
Christianity  absolutely  antagonistic  to  the  Germanic 
nature,  to  which  the  surrender  of  one's  personality 
seems  abhorrent.  Of  the  German  antagonism  to  Rome 
we  find  ever  repeated  proofs ;  we  need  mention  only  the 
writings  of  Walther  von  der  Vogelweide  and  Thoniasin 
von  Zirklaere.  Hence  the  statement  already  quoted 
of  a  German  village  pastor  that  "the  German  peasant 
has  really  never  been  converted  to  Christianity."  Of 
course,  such  statements  must  not  be  taken  too  literally 
and  may  be  made  with  just  as  much  —  or  just  as 
little  —  justification  in  regard  to  broad  classes  of  other 
countries,  but  this  much  is  certain  that  from  the  mo- 
ment the  Germans  began  to  apply  their  own  thought 
to  the  Christian  doctrine  the  conflict  with  the  Roman 
clergy  has  never  ceased. 

The  reason  for  this  is  to  be  found  in  these  three 
fundamental  contrasts :  Germanic  individualism 
against  Roman  universalism ;  the  inner  religious  feel- 
ing which  seeks  to  conceive  the  ruling  power  of  the  uni- 
verse directly,  against  the  external  mediation  offered 
by  the  mediaeval  Church  ;  and  the  claiming  of  the  right 
of  personal  judgment  as  against  a  constituted  authority. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  point  out  that  these  contrasts  are 
only  different  outgrowths  of  one  and  the  same  funda- 
mental character.  The  Roman  Church,  we  must  not 
forget,  has  been  a  political  power  from  the  start,  the 


xxiv  RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT  239 

successor  of  the  universal  empire  of  Rome,  and,  as 
Goethe  says,  "To  break  up  the  Roman  Empire  and 
to  give  a  new  order  to  the  world  is  the  first  and  princi- 
pal historical  task  of  the  Germans."  The  repeated 
refusal  of  the  Germans  to  accept  Roman  civilization 
may  have  been  unconscious,  but  it  indicated  that  they 
knew  what  they  did  not  want,  which,  as  H.  S.  Chamber- 
lain justly  says,  is  "the  beginning  of  all  practical  wis- 
dom." I  do  not  hesitate  to  characterize  the  Refor- 
mation, with  the  same  author,  as  a  political  event, 
"the  deliverance  of  the  Germanic  people  from  Rome  — 
it  has  restored  the  Germanic  man  to  himself." 

After  Christianity  had  become  the  official  religion 
of  the  state  every  independent  tendency  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  Christian  doctrine  was  suppressed  by  the 
public  authorities,  and,  eventually,  what  was  the  right 
faith  yesterday  might  become  the  false  faith  of  to-day ; 
when  the  Roman  Emperor  belonged  to  the  Arian  sect, 
the  orthodox  Roman  Catholics  were  treated  as  here- 
tics. It  was  the  Ostrogoth  Theodoric  the  Great,  who 
first  exercised  tolerance.  As  long  as  the  newly  con- 
verted Germans  did  not  try  to  get  a  deeper  insight  into 
the  teachings  of  Christianity,  and  as  long  as  the  state 
authority  possessed  sufficient  power  to  assert  its  views, 
everything  ran  smoothly.  As  early  as  the  sixth  cen- 
tury the  Visigoths  began  to  find  fault  with  the  peni- 
tential doctrine  that  one  might  sin  at  will  and  always 
find  forgiveness.  Charles  the  Great,  in  the  Iconoclast 
controversy,  had  put  through  against  the  Pope  his 
views  on  the  subject.  But  under  a  weak  ruler  like 
Charles  the  Bald,  who  opposed  the  doctrine,  just  begin- 
ning to  spread,  of  the  transubstantiation  of  bread  and 
wine  into  the  real  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ,  a  certain 
Count  Gottschalk  was  whipped  almost  to  death;  the 


240 

Anglo-Saxon  Scotus  Erigena  was  most  cruelly  perse- 
cuted and,  when  he  had  reached  a  refuge  in  his  native 
country,  assassinated. 

It  is  significant  that  with  the  beginning  of  a  deeper, 
more  spiritual  conception  of  Christianity  the  perse- 
cution of  heretics  began.  For  deeper  religious  feeling 
Rome  had  very  little  appreciation.  In  order  to  facili- 
tate the  discovery  of  heresies,  auricular  confession  was 
introduced  in  1215,  and  in  view  of  the  endeavors 
to  spiritualize  religion,  the  doctrine  was  put  forth  that 
for  the  expiation  of  sins  a  true  repentance  of  the  heart 
was  not  necessary,  but  that  repentance  from  fear  of 
hell  would  be  sufficient.  Gregory  IX  took  the  perse- 
cution of  the  heretics  out  of  the  hands  of  the  bishops 
and  introduced  the  Inquisition,  which  he  intrusted  to 
the  Dominican  monks.  The  Church,  of  course,  might 
not  shed  blood,  therefore  the  execution  of  its  judgments 
was  left  to  the  secular  powers.  In  Germany  these 
attempts  met  with  great  opposition.  The  Hohen- 
staufers,  it  is  true,  consented,  certainly  not  from  reli- 
gious motives,  to  destroy  the  Frisian  peasant  sect  of 
the  Stedingers,  but  the  first  Grand  Inquisitor  for  Ger- 
many, Konrad  of  Marburg,  was  slain  after  a  very  short 
duration  of  his  atrocities.  It  was  very  gradually  and 
almost  unnoticeably  that  the  Inquisition  was  brought 
back  to  Germany  to  play  its  gruesome  part  in  the  trials 
of  the  witches.  In  England  its  influence  is  even  less 
marked;  it  found  full  admission  only  much  later  for 
a  short  period  under  Mary  the  Catholic,  also  called 
the  Bloody. 

In  anticipation  it  may  be  stated  that  intolerance  and 
persecution  were  not  abolished  by  Protestantism;  in 
Protestant  countries  the  trials  of  heretics  lasted  until 
the  period  of  Rationalism  in  the  eighteenth  century. 


xxiv  RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT  241 

While  deep  true  religion  was  thus  persecuted,  there 
was  the  more  need  to  bind  the  people  to  the  Church  by 
external  means,  and  Satan,  Hell,  and  Purgatory  were 
used  to  frighten  the  masses  and  drive  them  to  the 
Church  with  its  means  of  grace.  The  belief  in  the 
devil  was  deeply  implanted  in  the  people's  souls,  as  we 
see  from  Luther  and  his  famous  ink  spot.  The  latter 
has  long  been  shown  in  the  room  in  the  Wartburg, 
where  Luther  threw  his  ink-well  at  the  devil,  and  the 
spot  was  carefully  renewed  from  time  to  time  to  preserve 
its  interest  for  the  visitors.  Superstition  increased  at  a 
terrible  rate,  and  besides  heretics  we  see  witches  on  the 
flaming  pile.  Pope  Innocent  III,  who  ruled  about  the 
year  1200,  still  ridiculed  the  belief  in  witches  as  childish. 
The  first  account  of  witches  who  had  turned  themselves 
into  toads  comes  from  Trier  (Treves)  in  the  fourth 
decade  of  the  thirteenth  century,  a  time  in  which 
there  was  no  more  need  of  combating  paganism.  From 
Toulouse  in  France  the  first  cremation  of  a  witch  is 
reported  in  1275.  It  was  that  of  a  sixty-year-old 
woman,  accused  of  intimacy  with  the  devil,  an  accusa- 
tion which  runs  like  a  red  thread  through  this  human 
aberration.  Only  in  1484  do  trials  of  witches  receive 
the  sanction  of  the  Pope  Innocent  VIII.  Thus  we 
can  hardly  call  them  an  institution  of  the  "dark  ages." 
Nowhere  did  this  superstition  find  more  adherents  and 
work  more  mischief  than  in  Germany,  where  it  was  a 
curious  development  of  that  ancient  belief  of  which 
Tacitus  speaks,  that  there  was  something  mysterious 
and  divine  in  woman.  Here,  in  1489,  by  order  of  the 
Pope,  Heinrich  Institoris  and  Jacob  Sprenger  published 
that  horrible  book,  that  greatest  monument  of  human 
cruelty  and  folly,  the  wickedest  work  of  the  world's 
literature,  the  Malleus  Maleficarum,  the  "  Witches' 


242  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

Hammer,"  which  has  also  been  considered  an  authority 
by  the  Protestants.  It  is  true,  however,  that  it  was  also 
in  Germany  that  the  first  protest  was  raised  against 
this  abomination  hi  the  sixteenth  century  by  Weier, 
a  physician,  and  later,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  by 
the  Jesuit  Friedrich  von  Spee,  while  the  most  vigorous 
fight  against  it  was  waged  by  Thomasius.  Unfortu- 
nately, however,  the  belief  in  witches  has  not  disap- 
peared even  yet,  although  its  recognition  by  public 
law  ceased  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
Thus  curiously  enough  the  first  steps  leading  to  the 
emancipation  of  human  reason  are  accompanied  by  the 
most  horrible  excesses  of  superstition,  and  the  enormous 
number  of  human  beings  burnt  at  the  stake  makes  us  ap- 
preciate what  debt  of  gratitude  we  owe  to  those  two  men 
who  furnished  us  with  weapons  in  the  battle  for  reason. 
In  spite  of  all  persecutions  of  heretics  and  in  spite 
of  the  superficial  interpretation  of  Christianity  on  the 
part  of  its  leaders,  a  purer  conception  of  its  doctrine  had 
spread  more  and  more  extensive^,  at  first  under  the 
influence  of  mysticism.  Germanic  heathenism,  lit- 
tle as  we  know  about  it,  had  already  shown  a  certain 
tendency  to  mysticism,  e.g.,  the  belief  just  mentioned 
that  there  were  some  secret  forces  operative  in  women. 
The  stronger  emotional  life  of  the  woman's  soul  would 
make  more  probable  the  conception  of  certain  things 
incomprehensible  to  reason.  It  was  therefore  not 
mere  chance  that  it  was  precisely  among  women  that 
the  mystic  side  of  religion  found  its  strongest  support. 
In  the  twelfth  century  the  fame  of  St.  Hildegard 
filled  the  whole  Western  world.  She  is  surrounded 
by  a  numerous  group  of  authoresses  who  describe  the 
mystic  experiences  of  their  hearts.  Of  these  Mech- 
thildis  of  Magdeburg  deserves  special  mention,  as  she 


xxiv  RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMIJNT  243 

exercised  a  strong  influence  on  Dante.  How  much 
this  mystic  conception  of  the  relations  between  God 
and  man  and  the  world  was  .looked  upon  as  peculiar 
to  the  German  character,  although  it  did  not  fail 
of  strong  representatives  in  other  countries,  we  may 
infer  from  the  fact  that  it  was  called  directly  the  "  Ger- 
man philosophy,"  philosophia  teutonica.  Indeed,  in 
the  works  of  its  greatest  representatives,  Eckart,  Suso, 
and  Tauler,  not  only  the  leading  ideas  of  the  Refor- 
mation are  to  be  found,  but  also  a  presentiment  of 
those  of  more  recent  German  thinkers.  Here  we  find 
that  inner  conception  of  the  divinity,  the  Ger- 
manic conception  of  religion,  and  that  morality  which 
is  not  influenced  in  its  actions  by  fear  of  eternal 
punishment  or  hope  of  eternal  reward,  for  which  sal- 
vation does  not  mean  salvation  from  the  tortures  of 
hell,  but  solely  the  transformation  of  the  inner  man. 
The  mystics  turned  not  only  towards  man's  own  inner 
life,  but  also  towards  God's  work  or  self-manifestation 
in  nature.  Thus  for  the  development  of  science  mysti- 
cism is  of  great  importance.  One  of  its  disciples  was 
the  great  Cardinal  Nikolaus  Krebs  of  Kues,  who  lived 
in  the  fifteenth  century.  He  has  been  justly  called 
the  first  German  philosopher  and  was  a  scholar  and 
follower  of  Plato,  a  great  opponent  of  scholasticism, 
and  of  Aristotle.  He  invented  an  instrument  to  meas- 
ure the  depth  of  the  sea,  and  he  revealed  the  forgery  of 
the  so-called  Isidorian  decretals,  on  which  the  papal 
supremacy  is  based.  He  also  showed  the  authority 
of  the  councils  of  the  Church  over  the  Pope  and  the 
equality  and  independence  of  the  state.  Another  mystic 
was  Paracelsus,  the  contemporary  of  Luther  and  Co- 
pernicus, who  for  the  first  time  placed  medicine  on  the 
basis  of  physiology  and  who  in  spite  of  all  his  bombast 


244  HISTOR7   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

has  given  many  valuable  hints  to  science ;  Bacon  made 
free  use  of  his  writing? ;  and  last  but  not  least,  he  was 
one  of  the  first  to  use  ike  German  language  in  teaching 
in  a  German  university. 

The  influence  of  mysticism  and  of  the  Mendicant 
orders  had  brought  the  clergy  nearer  to  the  people. 
At  last  some  parts  of  the  Holy  Service  had  been  turned 
into  German ;  soon  this  was  followed  by  German  ser- 
mons, and  as  early  as  the  thirteenth  century  we  meet 
Berthold  of  Regensburg,  one  of  the  best  popular  preach- 
ers of  all  times.  Under  these  impulses  personality 
had  found  recognition  in  religious  life  also  and  was 
waiting  for  the  magic  word  of  deliverance. 

These  religious  movements  hi  the  lay  world  and 
among  the  lower  clergy  were  accompanied  by  continu- 
ous attempts  to  reform  the  Church.  But  in  spite  of 
all  these  efforts,  in  spite  of  all  apparent  strengthening 
of  democratic  principles  in  Church  life,  which  mani- 
fested itself  in  the  so-called  conciliar  movement  aiming 
to  assert  the  authority  of  the  councils  over  the  popes, 
in  spite  of  all  schisms,  in  spite  of  whole  dynasties  of 
evident  scelerates  who  held  the  office  of  representatives 
of  Christ,  the  polity  of  the  popes  was  successful  in 
maintaining  their  power.  The  money  which  every 
year  found  its  way,  from  the  pockets  of  the  German 
clergy  and  laymen,  to  Rome,  where  it  was  squandered 
in  luxury,  reached  an  amount  which  was  directly  detri- 
mental to  national  wealth  and  caused  people  to  think, 
who  as  a  rule  were  not  given  to  religious  meditation. 
And  the  Pope  was  imitated  in  this  money-making 
propensity  by  the  bishops.  A  councilman  of  Niirnberg, 
one  of  the  most  educated  men  of  his  time,  Willibald 
Pirkheimer,  gives  us  the  following  description  of  epis- 
copal cities  shortly  before  the  Reformation  : 


xxiv  RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT  245 

"The  Imperial  cities  used  to  be  considerable  in  num- 
ber and  power,  but  most  of  them  have  fallen  by  the  force 
of  the  tyrants  and  bad  government.  Especially  they 
have  suffered  by  the  pride  and  avarice  of  the  bishops,  this 
all-devouring  flame.  For  after  the  former  Emperors, 
according  to  the  pernicious  advice  of  the  Princes,  had 
entrusted  to  the  Bishops  then-  prerogatives  in  the  Im- 
perial cities,  they  did  not  hesitate  to  exploit  these  privi- 
leges with  all  their  might.  They  instigated  the  people 
against  the  better  classes  and  drove  the  latter  out  of 
the  city;  the  foolish  people  were  soon  suppressed  and 
the  bishops  were  the  masters;  in  this  way  had  fallen 
old  Trier,  powerful  Mainz,  and  rich  Koln.  Among 
the  great  number  of  Imperial  cities  hardly  one  could 
escape  the  cruel  storm.  Now  the  bishops  hold  these 
cities,  but  fleeced  and  oppressed  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
make  the  Turkish  yoke  light  in  comparison.  Just  so 
the  tyrants  proceed  hi  the  cities  which  they  have  either 
suppressed  by  force  or  received  as  a  pledge  by  the 
Emperor  or  on  their  prayers." 

To  appreciate  this  statement  one  must  remember 
that  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  one-third 
part  of  Germany  was  under  ecclesiastical  rule. 

But  another  point  must  not  be  forgotten.  The  in- 
fluence of  the  Catholic  Church  was  not  confined  to  the 
religious  life  of  its  members,  but  comprised  all  and  every- 
thing. Hell  and  Satan  as  well  as  the  confessional  had 
been  the  means  by  which  the  minds  of  men  had  been 
completely  subdued.  If  according  to  Church  doctrine 
the  Emperor  possessed  his  authority  by  the  grace  of 
God,  i.e.,  of  the  Church,  the  same  held  good  logically 
for  all  his  subjects ;  every  one  held  his  social  position, 
his  calling,  so  to  speak,  as  an  office  from  God,  and  thus 
Rome  claimed  to  be  the  actual  and  immediate  master  of 


246  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

everybody.  Therefore  it  is  not  alone  the  victorious 
battle  against  some  articles  of  creed  which  gives  such 
importance  to  the  Reformation,  but  it  was  also  the  de- 
liverance of  the  non-religious  life  from  ecclesiastical  rule. 
Thus  the  Reformation  was  above  all  also  a  political 
movement,  in  a  national  sense,  the  liberation  of  Ger- 
many from  Roman  rule,  a  point  which  is  incessantly 
emphasized  by  Luther. 

As  he  won  national  independence  from  Rome  for 
Germany,  so  he  did  for  every  other  nation,  and  in  this 
same  sense  Luther  has  become  the  liberator  of  the 
Catholic  nations  also ;  no  matter  how  small  this  liberty 
may  appear  as  compared  with  progressive  Protestant 
countries,  every  citizen  even  of  the  most  backward 
nation  of  our  Western  civilization  is,  in  view  of  mediaeval 
conditions,  a  free  man  to-day. 

For  himself  and  as  a  German,  Martin  Luther  defended 
personal  right  and  gained  his  victory  not  alone  by  his 
powerful  character,  but  because  he  came  at  a  time 
when,  as  I  have  tried  to  show,  the  fact  that  the  German 
had  risen  to  a  consciousness  of  personality  became 
manifest  in  all  fields  of  human  interest.  The  Reforma- 
tion does  not  mean,  as  is  often  claimed,  the  victory  of 
reason  over  ignorance,  it  means  only  the  beginning 
of  the  conflict,  the  declaration  of  war,  so  to  speak. 
It  is  a  movement  in  the  field  of  will ;  it  does  not  give 
truth,  but  the  right  to  search  for  truth,  the  right  to 
exercise  our  faculties  of  thinking,  feeling,  willing,  as 
self-ruling  men.  Even  before  Copernicus  had  shown 
that  hi  the  vast  expanse  of  the  universe  there  was  no 
room  for  Heaven  and  Hell,  Luther  had  pointed  out  the 
spot  where  they  were  to  be  found  in  reality,  that  is, 
within  our  own  selves ;  there  they  are  as  real  to-day  as 
they  ever  have  appeared  in  the  visions  of  saints,  and  real 


xxiv  RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT  247 

not  for  the  Protestant  only,  but  for  the  piously  faithful 
Catholic  as  well,  for  the  Jew,  the  infidel,  and  the  mate- 
rialist, though  many  may  protest  against  this  statement. 
"Within  your  breast,  the  stars  are  of  your  fate," 
says  Schiller,  and  this  is  the  fundamental  idea  of  the 
religion  which  the  German  genius  has  given  to  the  world 
and  which  unites  all  men  of  noble  thought,  whatever 
creed,  nation,  or  race  may  be  theirs.  And  if  the  Ger- 
man poet  says,  "All  men  are  free,  though  they  were 
born  in  chains,"  he  speaks  of  that  inner,  that  personal 
liberty,  of  which,  since  the  days  of  Luther,  the  German 
has  held  as  his  most  sacred  possession,  of  which  he  is 
proud,  and  which  he  guards  most  jealously  whenever  it 
appears  endangered  hi  the  smallest  degree.  While  the 
Germans,  therefore,  may  claim  the  credit  of  having 
given  to  the  world  the  conception  of  the  moral  man  of 
modern  times,  it  appears  they  have  given  expression 
to  some  common  Germanic  tendenc}?- ;  for  it  is  a  remark- 
able coincidence  that  it  is  only  with  the  Germanic 
nations  that  the  Reformation  has  been  of  lasting  influ- 
ence, that  the  boundaries  of  Catholic  Germany  in 
general  do  not  deviate  very  much  from  the  Roman 
limes,  which  in  heathen  times  separated  free  Germany 
from  the  Roman  Empire  and  those  provinces  hi  which 
the  German  and  Latin  elements  freely  rntermingled. 
In  the  present  conscious  endeavors  to  strengthen 
national  feeling  in  Germany  —  a  movement  which  is 
distinguished  by  an  eager  study  of  the  German  char- 
acter, perhaps  not  always  entirely  free  from  chauvin- 
ism, but  not  by  any  means  blind  to  its  weak  points  — 
amongst  many  a  good  word  from  the  German  poets 
we  are  met  again  and  again  by  the  Shakespearean  line 
of  poetry 

"  This  above  all,  to  thine  own  self  be  true !  " 


248  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

If  the  Germans  cherish  Shakespeare  as  one  of  their 
own  classics,  and  if  the  German  translators  have  been 
so  successful  hi  expressing  his  thought,  it  is  because  the 
great  poet  is  so  truly  Germanic. 

Powerful  as  is  Luther's  personality,  with  his  faults 
and  his  virtues,  the  raciest  and  most  German  figure  in 
history,  still  it  may  be  said  of  him,  perhaps  more  than 
of  many  others,  that  the  greatest  men  are  after  all  only 
the  products  of  their  surroundings.  He  of  all  men 
demonstrates  the  fact  that  he  did  not  so  much  influence 
his  time  as  he  most  emphatically  embodied  the  influ- 
ences which  were  stirring  up  the  soul  of  his  nation. 
This  is  the  only  explanation  that  can  be  found  for  the 
powerful  and  rapid  effect  of  his  first  public  step,  an 
effect  surely  not  intended  or  even  dreamt  of  by  him. 
Just  read  those  ninety-five  theses  about  the  indul- 
gences !  These  demands  were  neither  revolutionary 
nor  were  they  new.  Wy cliff e,  Huss,  and  others  have 
been  much  more  radical.  Still  the  German  people 
felt  instinctively  and  immediately :  This  is  the  man  we 
have  waited  for. 

That  his  opponents  took  his  procedure  very  seriously 
is  less  wonderful  since  he  struck  their  most  sensitive 
spot  —  their  purse.  If  we  put  aside  religious  considera- 
tions for  a  moment,  we  should  see  that  his  blow  struck, 
not  only  at  the  income  of  the  hierarchy,  but  also  directly 
at  capitalism,  for  the  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  indul- 
gences which  the  Dominican  monk,  Tetzel,  pushed  on 
behalf  of  Archbishop  Albrecht  of  Mainz,  had  long  before 
been  pledged  in  pawn  to  the  great  mercantile  house  of 
Fugger,  which  financed  the  enterprise  for  a  good  com- 
mission. A  representative  of  the  Fuggers  accompanied 
the  preacher  of  the  indulgences  on  his  rounds  and 
took  charge  of  all  the  money  paid  in.  Thus  in  the 


xxiv  RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT  249 

progress  of  the  movement  we  see  the  great  capitalists, 
especially  the  Fuggers,  arrayed  on  the  side  of  Rome. 
The  money  owed  them  by  the  clergy  and  the  imperial 
family  amounted  to  many  millions.  To  the  House  of 
Habsburg  alone  they  had  loaned  seven  million  thalers, 
a  sum  equivalent  to  about  fifty  million  dollars  in  modern 
money.  It  was  simply  a  question  of  business  interest 
for  the  creditor  to  prevent  a  weakening  of  the  power 
and  the  solvency  of  his  debtors.  As  the  power  of 
capital  was  concentrated  in  the  south  of  Germany,  we 
have  here  another  reason  for  the  actual  geographical 
distribution  of  denominations. 

Not  so  very  long  ago,  when  the  firm  of  the  Roth- 
schilds was  at  its  height,  it  was  often  said,  in  a  rather 
joking  way,  that  no  war  could  be  waged  against  their 
will :  but  this  control  over  the  political  fate  of  Ger- 
many by  the  Fuggers  was  a  bitter  fact ;  there  seems  to 
be  no  doubt  that  without  the  help  of  the  great  capitalists 
the  Catholic  Church  would  not  have  been  reestablished 
in  southern  Germany. 

For  the  entire  German  nation  was  on  the  side  of 
Luther.  As  early  as  the  Diet  of  Worms,  not  four  years 
after  the  posting  of  those  theses  on  the  church  door  at 
Wittenberg,  the  papal  legate  reported  to  his  master  that 
nine-tenths  of  the  Germans  were  against  Rome;  and 
when,  in  the  second  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the 
Jesuit  Order  began  the  reconquest  of  Germany  in  the 
so-called  Counter-Reformation,  almost  all  the  inhabit- 
ants were  Protestants.  Even  in  the  Habsburg  domin- 
ions the  Estates  had  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  recog- 
nition of  the  evangelic  faith. 

In  its  very  first  beginnings  the  movement  was  ex- 
traordinarily strong.  The  theses  on  the  indulgences 
were  spread  all  over  Germany  within  two  weeks.  All 


250  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

classes  of  the  population  were  stirred ;  the  papal  legate, 
Aleander,  could  not  show  himself  on  the  street  without 
being  jeered  at;  he  even  wrote  the  Pope  that  at  the 
imperial  court  itself  an  excessively  Lutheran  door- 
keeper treated  him  to  occasional  pokes  in  the  ribs. 
The  Archduke  Ferdinand  announced  to  Charles  V, 
in  1522,  "The  cause  of  Luther  is  rooted  so  deeply  hi 
the  whole  Empire  that  not  one  in  a  thousand  is  free 
from  it." 

The  rulers  were  not  deaf  to  public  opinion;  great 
regard  was  paid  to  the  excitement  of  the  people  in  the 
resolutions  of  the  Reichstag  in  Niirnberg,  in  1522 ; 
and  the  Reichstag,  in  session  at  the  same  place  two 
years  later,  said  expressly  that  in  case  of  any  effort  to 
restrain  the  religious  movement  "much  riot,  diso- 
bedience, manslaughter,  bloodshed,  yea,  a  general  ruin 
was  to  be  feared."  This  was  probably  the  reason  why 
in  spite  of  ban  and  proscription  Luther  escaped  the  fate 
of  Huss,  whose  Czech  movement  had  been,  if  possible, 
even  more  dangerous  from  a  national  point  of  view,  than 
the  German  idea  of  Luther.  Thus  in  the  face  of  all 
disharmony  and  selfishness  of  the  Protestant  Princes, 
in  spite  of  the  victories  of  the  armies  of  the  Habsburgers, 
Protestantism  kept  its  hold  on  the  people. 

Notwithstanding  the  numerous  important  problems, 
which  in  this  time  of  transition  to  modern  times  were 
urgently  demanding  consideration,  religious  questions 
formed  the  chief  interest  of  all  classes  of  population 
during  the  entire  century.  Peasants  and  craftsmen, 
commoners  and  noblemen,  discussed  questions  regarding 
which  not  so  very  long  ago  no  theologian  would  have 
risked  an  argument ;  lay  preachers  rose  everywhere. 
The  different  schools  of  Protestantism  fought  with  each 
other  as  violently,  or  even  more  so,  as  they  did  against 


xxiv  RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT  251 

Romanism,  and  with  the  same  dogmatic  rigidity,  the 
same  intolerance  that  was  shown  by  the  latter. 

Luther  could  not  endure  any  opinion  different  from 
his  own;  without  detriment  to  his  importance  as  an 
intellectual  liberator,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  he  tried 
to  put  the  mind  into  new  chains,  as  soon  as  his  faith 
left  the  realm  of  emotion  and  entered  upon  that  of 
reason.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  instead  of  the 
Roman  Pope  he  set  up  a  paper  Pope  in  the  Bible.  It  is 
quite  true  that  he  apparently  made  the  Bible  a  new 
infallible  authority,  instead  of  leaving  man  entirely  to 
his  own  inner  conviction;  he  had  given  every  one, 
however,  the  right  to  interpret  the  word  of  God  as  it 
was  revealed  in  the  Bible  after  his  own  fashion,  so  that 
the  Bible  appeared  to  him  not  so  much  a  dead  authority, 
in  which  dogma  had  been  laid  down  once  and  forever, 
as  the  living  voice  of  God  which  spoke  directly  to  every- 
body. And  though  Luther  overlooked  in  this  the  fact 
that  he  really  put  a  new  infallible  authority  in  place 
of  the  old  one,  still  he  did  not,  in  contrast  to  Rome, 
demand  a  merely  external  submission,  but  a  whole- 
hearted attempt  to  conceive  the  truth,  of  which  he  — 
likewise  in  contrast  to  the  Rome  of  his  time  —  was 
himself  firmly  convinced.  His  intolerance  was  the 
outgrowth  of  this  conviction  of  the  absolute  truth  of 
his  faith.  Besides,  we  must  emphasize  again  that 
Luther  was  a  German,  and,  as  such,  shared  the  German 
faults,  among  which  obstinacy  of  opinion  and  a  certain 
pedantry  are  prominent.  While  these  shadows  are 
often  overlooked  in  the  bright  light  which  shines  from 
the  master,  they  seem  to  be  the  principal  features  of 
many  of  his  followers  as  well  as  his  opponents ;  and  thus 
we  can  easily  understand  how  theological  quibbling 
became  the  ruling  passion  of  the  time  in  Germany.  In 


252  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

fact,  as  far  as  a  greater  freedom  of  thought  or  an  ad- 
vance towards  a  scientific  view  of  the  world  were  con- 
cerned, the  appearance  of  Luther  and  the  intellectual 
achievement  of  Copernicus  did  not  prove  at  first  to 
be  of  great  benefit  to  their  own  nation.  Luther  liber- 
ated German  feeling  and  will,  while  free  reasoning  found 
a  home  and  development  first  with  the  French,  the 
Dutch,  and  the  English,  and  was  not  to  attain  its  great 
triumphs  in  Germany  until  two  centuries  later.  Luther 
could  not  fairly  have  been  expected  to  draw  the  same 
conclusions  from  the  theory  of  Copernicus  which  we 
do  to-day.  He  saw  very  plainly  that  it  could  not  be 
made  to  agree  with  the  teachings  of  the  Bible,  and  there- 
fore quite  logically,  from  his  point  of  view,  he  declared 
it  to  be  wrong.  He  said  of  his  great  contemporary : 
"The  fool  wants  to  turn  around  the  whole  art  of 
astronomy,  but  the  Holy  Scriptures  tell  us  that  Joshua 
made  the  sun  stand  still,  and  not  the  earth."  Towards 
the  end  of  the  century  the  reformed  Protestants  began 
to  persecute  the  followers  of  Copernicus.  Rome, 
however,  was  so  indifferent  to  the  foundations  of  the 
Christian  doctrine,  that  it  did  not  recognize  at  all  the 
dangerous  character  of  the  new  theory.  The  monk  of 
Wittenberg  was  giving  the  Pope  so  much  trouble  that 
the  Canon  of  Frauenberg  did  not  appear  threatening. 
The  Pope  even  accepted  with  thanks  the  dedication  of 
the  book  which  destroyed  the  foundation  of  the  view 
of  the  world  upheld  by  the  Church.  Only  in  the  next 
century  did  the  Jesuits  recognize  the  true  meaning 
of  the  book,  and  on  the  5th  of  March,  1616,  Pope 
Paul  V  declared  the  doctrine  that  the  sun  is  the  centre 
of  the  universe  and  does  not  move  from  east  to  west, 
but  that  the  earth  moves  and  is  not  the  centre  of  the 
universe,  to  be  wrong  and  heretical.  This  anathema  has 


xxiv  RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT  253 

never  been  retracted  to  the  knowledge  of  the  author, 
although  in  1828  permission  was  given  to  read  Coper- 
nicus' book. 

The  influence  Luther  has  had  on  German  culture 
cannot  be  overvalued.  In  all  fields  of  life  he  became  the 
teacher  and  guide  of  his  nation ;  surrounded  by  thor- 
oughly educated  and  capable  men,  he  began  to  decide 
the  currents  of  the  social,  political,  and  ethical  move- 
ments and  tried  to  give  them  the  right  direction  every- 
where for  the  best  of  the  German  people.  His  influ- 
ence, which  was  used,  on  the  whole,  without  fear  and 
regard  for  persons,  gained  for  him  a  willing  ear  from 
princes  and  noblemen,  from  burghers  and  peasants. 
To  show  this  in  all  details  would  lead  us  too  far.  While 
he  was  a  professor  in  a  university  he  was  far  from  feeling 
himself  above  the  common  people  as  was  the  rule  with 
the  humanists  of  the  time ;  on  the  contrary,  he  never 
could  come  to  an  understanding  with  the  greatest  leaders 
of  humanism,  like  Melanchthon.  By  his  marriage 
he  simply  did  himself  what  he  had  preached  to  others 
for  a  long  time.  He  maintained  that  the  family  was 
the  foundation  of  social  life,  and  by  marrying  himself 
he  removed  the  stain  put  on  woman  and  the  family 
by  the  law  of  celibacy,  giving  again  this  recognition  to 
woman's  position  which  the  Germanic  peoples  claim 
with  such  pride  and  affection  as  peculiar  to  themselves 
from  the  beginning,  and  which  their  Romance  neigh- 
bors do  not  seem  to  be  able  to  appreciate.  But  no 
matter  how  much  they  may  privately  sneer  at  it,  or 
publicly  ridicule  it,  the  Germans  know  that  this 
private  life,  which  spreads  its  light  within  the  four 
walls  of  the  home,  is  one  of  the  deep  roots  of  their 
national  strength.  As  far  as  the  Protestant  countries 
are  concerned,  and  especially  Protestant  Germany,  this 


254  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

abolition  of  celibacy  and  the  emphasizing  of  the  impor- 
tance and  sacredness  of  the  family  life  on  the  part  of 
the  clergymen  has  not  only  had  a  general  ethical  effect, 
but  has  strengthened  the  forces  that  make  for  higher 
culture  in  a  way  that  is  often  overlooked.  In  the  at- 
mosphere of  the  Protestant  parsonage,  with  its  high 
idealism,  in  spite  of  occasional  bigotry,  pedantry,  and 
phariseeism,  with  its  sense  of  duty  based  on  self- 
respect,  its  intellectual  refinements,  its  material  unpre- 
tentiousness,  in  short,  with  that  whole  spiritual  inheri- 
tance of  Luther  and  his  companions,  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  the  parsons  grow  up  and  their  importance 
in  the  culture  development  of  the  nation  can  be  easily 
appreciated,  if  we  consider  only  superficially  how  many 
of  its  intellectual  leaders  have  come  from  their  ranks, 
or  if  we  compare  what  percentage  they  furnish  to  the 
learned  professions.  These  " pastors'  children"  in  a 
Protestant  population  cannot  be  balanced  by  the 
Catholic  clergy  in  spite  of  equal  intellectual  attain- 
ments and  perhaps  —  because  undivided  —  greater 
devotion  to  their  office.  It  is  not  necessary  to  remind 
the  readers  of  this  book  of  our  own  American  history, 
where  similar  observations  can  be  made. 

While  Luther  recognized  the  importance  of  school 
education,  he  stood  before  his  nation  chiefly  in  the  light 
of  a  model  father  and  home  educator.  Aside  from  his 
own  writings  we  learn  a  great  deal  of  his  home  life  from 
contemporary  accounts  and  pictures.  After  the  weary 
work  of  his  calling  he  found  rest  in  recreation  among 
his  children ;  as  he  looked  at  them  he  would  exclaim : 
"Oh  !  what  a  great,  rich,  and  magnificent  blessing  there 
is  in  the  married  state ;  what  joy  is  shown  to  man  in 
matrimony  by  his  descendants !"  In  his  family  circle 
he  played  like  a  child  day  by  day,  composed  children's 


xxiv  RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT  255 

songs  and  sang  them  with  his  family  while  he  accom- 
panied them  on  the  lute.  He  not  only  knew  how  to  put 
himself  on  the  mental  level  of  a  child,  but  also  knew 
how  to  talk  with  children  and  thus  proved  his  own 
words :  "  Christ,  as  he  wanted  to  educate  man,  had  to 
become  a  man.  If  we  are  to  train  children,  we  must 
ourselves  become  children  with  them." 

In  1530  he  wrote  to  his  little  son  Johnny  (Hansicheri) : 

"I  like  to  see  you  learn  well  and  to  pray  diligently. 
Do  this,  my  little  son,  and  continue  thus.  When  I 
come  home,  I  will  bring  you  something  nice  from  the 
fair.  I  know  a  nice,  cheerful  garden,  wherein  many 
children  are  walking ;  they  wear  green  coats  and  pick 
up  fine  apples  under  the  trees,  and  pears,  cherries,  egg 
plums  and  other  plums,  sing  and  jump  and  are  merry; 
they  also  have  fine  little  horses  with  golden  reins  and  sil- 
ver saddles.  Then  I  asked  the  man  to  whom  the  garden 
belongs  whose  children  they  were.  He  said, '  These  are 
the  children  that  like  to  pray,  learn,  and  are  pious. '  Then 
I  said :  '  My  dear  man,  I  have  also  a  son,  called  Han- 
sichen  Luther ;  may  he  not  come  likewise  into  the  gar- 
den, that  he  may  eat  such  fine  apples  and  pears,  and 
ride  on  such  fine  little  horses,  and  play  with  these 
little  children?'  ..." 

The  letter  continues  in  the  same  manner.  The  great 
man,  to  whom  all  Europe  had  listened,  did  not  think  it 
beneath  him  to  descend  to  the  level  of  his  child,  and 
found  the  time  and  leisure  to  do  so  when  most  momen- 
tous deliberations  were  going  on  which  concerned  the 
future  of  his  life  work. 

There  is  still  another  side  to  Luther's  work  which 
remains  of  the  greatest  importance  to  us  to-day.  In 
the  eyes  of  many  Germans  it  is  perhaps  the  most 
precious  of  his  gifts,  bestowed  particularly  on  his  own 


256  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION  CHAP. 

people  and  manifesting  his  thoroughly  German  nature ; 
this  gift  is  the  modern  German  language.  Luther,  of 
course,  did  not  invent  the  language  defined  by  phi- 
lology as  "New  High  German,"  but  he  did,  so  to  speak, 
discover  it.  To  say  that  "in  translating  the  Bible 
Luther  used  the  language  of  the  Electoral  Saxon 
Chancellery  and  in  consequence  of  the  great  popularity 
of  this  translation  its  diction  became  the  foundation 
of  the  modern  German  written  language,"  is  far  too 
narrow  a  statement,  although  it  passes  from  one  text- 
book to  another.  It  is  true  Luther  made  use  of  this 
language  because  it  had  been  widely  adopted  in  his 
time,  but  how  much  of  it  did  he  reject !  how  much  did 
he  add  from  other  sources !  We  know  from  his  own 
words  that  he  used  to  look  at  the  common  people's 
mouths  hi  order  to  study  the  truly  national  language. 
On  the  other  hand  he  writes  to  Spalatin,  his  protector 
and  a  highly  educated  humanist:  "  Help  me  to  set  the 
words  right,  but  so  as  not  to  supply  expressions  of  court- 
iers and  soldiers."  Just  because  he  was  German  to  the 
core,  the  genius  of  the  language  was  revealed  to  him ; 
or  may  we  not  rather  say,  the  genius  of  the  language 
was  his  own  —  and  only  thus  was  he  able  to  preserve 
all  its  advantages,  not  in  a  rigid  form,  but  with  a  power 
of  rejuvenation,  ever  strong  and  active.  No  wonder 
that  praise  for  his  contributions  to  the  mother  tongue 
has  not  been  sparing,  Out  of  many  I  quote  two  his- 
torians. Lamprecht  calls  Luther,  "A  man  who,  gifted 
with  a  natural  interest  in  language,  had  control  of  the 
word  as  almost  no  German  before  or  after  him,  who  at 
the  same  time  had  a  strong  musical  sense,  and  gave  his 
ear  not  less  to  the  rhythm  of  the  language,  than  to  its 
sounds."  Of  the  Bible  translation  he  says :  "It  has  had 
an  influence  on  the  German  mind  almost  unequalled. 


xxiv  RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT  257 

It  did  not  extend  merely  to  its  phonetics  and  etymol- 
ogy, but  also  to  its  rhythm  and  syntax;  it  also  took 
hold  of  its  wealth  of  words ;  words  like  '  Eif  er  '  (zeal) 
and  'Ekel7  (disgust),  'Halle'  (hall)  and  'Hugel'  (hill), 
'fiihlen'  (to  feel)  and  'freien'  (to  woo),  'aberglaubisch' 
(superstitious)  and  'albern'  (stupid),  bear  the  stamp 
of  Luther ;  and  wherever  two  or  three  of  the  linguistic 
community  of  educated  Germans  meet  to-day  in  the 
written  or  oral  exchange  of  thought,  there  Luther  is 
speaking  as  one  of  them,  and  the  learned  perceive  in 
word  and  construction  the  ever  present  influence  of 
his  mind." 

The  words  of  Ranke  are  not  less  emphatic  in  their 
praise  :  "  A  more  powerful  writer  never  has  appeared  in 
any  nation  of  the  world.  Nor  might  another  be  named 
who  would  unite  the  most  perfect  perspicuity  and 
popularity,  and  sound,  true-hearted  common  sense  with 
so  much  of  genuine  intelligence,  enthusiasm,  and 
genius.  He  has  given  to  German  literature  the  char- 
acter it  has  since  preserved :  that  of  research  and  deep 
meaning." 

No  wonder  that  a  man  whose  influence  is  felt  so 
directly  by  the  great  men  of  his  nation  after  centuries 
have  passed,  has  impressed  his  personality  so  strongly 
upon  his  time  that  we  may  truly  call  it :  the  Age  of 
Luther. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

HUMANISM   AND   RENAISSANCE    IN    GERMANY 

Education  after  Luther.     From  the  Journal  of  Thomas 

Platter 

TOGETHER  with  the  Reformation,  at  which  we  have 
glanced,  an  important  part  in  the  transition  from 
mediaeval  to  modern  tunes  is  played  by  Humanism. 
It  is  wrong,  however,  to  make  the  Reformation  appear 
as  a  consequence  of  Humanism.  While  the  Reforma- 
tion is  an  outgrowth  of  the  national  life  of  the  German 
soul,  Humanism  was  only  an  educational  movement  in 
Germany,  confined  in  its  workings  almost  entirely  to  the 
scholarly  world.  More  than  in  the  joyful  atmosphere 
of  Italy,  German  Humanism  had  its  immediate  source 
in  the  Netherlands.  It  was  brought  from  Italy  by  the 
jurists,  and  its  influence  extended  exclusively  to  the 
formal  side,  but  still  its  great  teachers  and  its  greatest 
scholar  had  then-  home  in  the  Netherlands.  It  pro- 
ceeded from  the  circles  of  those  Brethren  of  Common 
Life  I  have  mentioned  before.  Hence  its  teachers 
spread  all  over  Germany,  founding  famous  schools  and 
moulding  what  we  now  call  secondary  education  into 
a  form  from  which  the  modern  world  is  endeavoring 
to  break  away.  At  that  time,  however,  the  study  of 
classical  literature  led  to  the  destruction  of  traditional 
authority,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  was  the  distinguish- 
ing feature  of  the  new  period  brought  about  by  the 

258 


xxv  HUMANISM  AND  RENAISSANCE   IN  GERMANY  259 

Reformation.  It  may  be  that  Humanism  might  have 
in  time  brought  about  the  emancipation  of  reason  with- 
out the  help  of  Luther.  But  of  what  benefit,  I  ask 
again,  is  it  to  speculate  against  the  course  of  history? 
The  emancipation  due  to  Luther  was  not,  at  first,  as  we 
have  seen,  so  much  an  emancipation  of  reason  as  of  the 
will  and  heart.  It  grew  from  within,  while  Humanism 
would  have  effected  it  from  without,  by  the  strength 
of  classical  culture,  not  of  the  German  mind ;  further- 
more, it  would  not  have  reached  the  entire  people,  but 
only  those  who  knew  the  classical  languages.  As  it  is, 
humanistic  education,  where  it  has  gained  control,  has 
separated  its  possessors  from  the  rest  of  the  nation, 
has  brought  about  that  disastrous  division  of  the  Ger- 
man people  into  the  educated  and  uneducated,  into 
castes  almost  as  strange  to  each  other  as  is  elsewhere 
the  case  only  in  countries  where  a  small  conquering 
caste  rules  over  the  great  mass  of  a  subdued  people. 

In  certain  respects,  however,  the  Humanists  help  to 
prepare  the  way  for  Luther  and  other  reformers; 
Zwingli  and  Calvin  may  be  said  to  have  been  directly 
under  then1  influence. 

The  Humanists  slowly  brought  about  a  change  in  the 
universities  and  higher  schools.  They  abolished  the 
old  scholastic  text-books  with  then*  bad  Latin,  intro- 
duced better  ones,  and  made  teachers  and  scholars 
familiar  with  the  good  Latin  and  Greek  authors.  But, 
taken  up  by  the  dead  world  of  the  past,  they  had  lost 
touch  with  the  living  present  of  their  people,  and  very 
few  of  them  joined  Luther  and  his  companions.  Of 
these  Ulrich  von  Hutten  is  the  most  interesting  figure. 
By  the  inspiration  of  Luther's  work  he  was  brought 
back  from  a  sterile  admiration  of  antiquity  to  a  love 
of  his  own  country,  and  discarded  Latin  for  German. 


260  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

After  the  new  spirit  had  taken  a  strong  hold  of  all 
classes  of  the  people  and  after  an  unsuccessful  effort  had 
been  made  to  break  away  from  the  scholastic  learning, 
the  people  began  under  the  first  impulse  of  the  Refor- 
mation to  turn  against  classical  learning  altogether. 

In  the  first  years  of  the  Reformation  we  notice  so 
decided  a  revolt  against  learning  that  the  universities 
became  empty,  as  will  be  shown  by  figures  in  a  later 
chapter ;  but  this  was  only  temporary.  As  the  Refor- 
mation placed  Christian  faith  entirely  in  the  Bible,  the 
correct  interpretation  of  the  text  became  of  the  greatest 
importance,  and  therefore  could  not  fail  to  lead  to  an 
increased  study  of  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew,  and  to  an 
application  of  philological  methods  as  the  only  safe 
guide  to  the  meaning  of  the  Scriptures.  A  classical 
education  was  deemed  indispensable  for  the  clergymen 
of  the  new  Church,  but  also  important  for  the  laymen, 
to  whom  the  Bible  was  now  given  to  study.  The 
separation  between  clergy  and  lay  world  had  fallen 
away,  and  higher  studies  seemed  less  a  prerogative  of 
the  former.  The  whole  tendency  of  the  times  had 
given  a  new  impulse  to  scientific  research,  and  we  see 
special  advances  in  mathematics  and  astronomy,  the 
latter  still  unseparated  from  astrology,  which,  with 
alchemy,  played  a  great  part  in  those  times.  For  the 
future  of  the  German  universities  it  is  of  importance 
that  for  their  maintenance  they  had  to  accept  the  help 
of  the  civil  authorities,  and  therefore  were  changed 
into  public  institutions  under  the  control  of  the  state. 

As  the  Bible  in  German  was  to  be  in  the  hands  of 
every  Christian,  ability  to  read  became  a  necessity, 
even  if  the  leaders  of  the  Reformation  had  not  plainly 
understood  the  importance  of  schools  for  directing  the 
thoughts  of  the  young.  Luther  himself  puts  great 


xxv  HUMANISM  AND  RENAISSANCE  IN  GERMANY  261 

stress  on  the  erection  of  higher  and  lower  schools  for 
boys  and  girls ;  he  demands  distinctly  the  common 
school,  with  skilful  teachers  adapted  to  their  work. 

In  this  school  work,  as  well  as  in  other  respects, 
Luther's  assistant  was  Philip  Melanchthon,  one  of  the 
greatest  Humanists  of  his  tune.  Reuchlin  and  Erasmus, 
the  other  two  leading  German  Humanists,  did  not  join 
Luther  when  they  saw  the  democratic  as  well  as  dogmatic 
character  of  the  movement.  In  the  course  of  the  century 
the  Protestant  schools  found  a  richer  development. 
Besides  the  Protestant  universities,  among  which  Wit- 
tenberg had  to  give  up  its  leading  place  to  Jena,  we  find 
different  classes  of  secondary  schools.  There  were  the  old 
Latin  schools  of  the  cities,  many  of  which  greatly  in- 
creased in  scope  and  even  included  university  instruc- 
tion, the  so-called  Furstenschulen  (princes'  schools), 
new  ventures,  some  of  which  are  famous  to-day,  and 
the  academical  Gymnasium.  In  a  very  short  time  the 
aim  of  these  schools  became  the  preparation  for  the 
university.  But  when  Protestantism  itself,  after  its 
first  enthusiasm  was  spent,  became  petrified,  these 
schools  soon  became  nurseries  of  a  dead  knowledge, 
in  spite  of  sound  pedagogical  theory  and  practice, 
developed  by  a  number  of  excellent  schoolmen  from 
whom  modern  teachers  might  learn  many  a  valuable 
lesson.  As  a  product  of  the  Reformation,  however, 
the  common  schools,  which  appear  first  as  Sunday 
schools  and  catechism  schools,  stand  out  most  prom- 
inently. First  founded  by  the  cities  and  villages,  their 
growth  was  fostered  in  many  instances  by  the  princes. 
As  the  century  progressed  the  so-called  Schulordnun- 
gen,  regulations  for  the  school  management,  made  by 
the  authorities,  became  more  and  more  frequent,  and 
form  a  very  important  source  of  pedagogical  history. 


262  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

In  education,  as  in  other  things,  the  Reformation  was 
not  confined  in  its  effects  to  the  Protestants.  The 
Jesuits  especially  made  the  founding  of  schools  for  the 
education  of  the  better  classes  one  of  their  principal 
instruments  in  the  counter-Reformation.  While  they 
modified  the  methods  considerably,  and  particularly 
placed  discipline  and  character-building  influences  on 
a  different  foundation,  they  adopted  on  the  whole  the 
models  of  their  opponents.  The  advantages  claimed 
for  the  methods  are  well  known,  but  the  German  critic 
objects  to  Jesuit  schools,  as  being  hostile  to  all  purely 
human  feelings,  the  affection  for  parent,  home,  and 
country ;  to  their  unnatural  fostering  of  ambition,  their 
mutual  spying  system,  religious  intolerance,  and  to  their 
destruction  of  independence  of  character.  Common 
schools  were  promoted  by  several  Catholic  princes  as 
well  as  cities. 

In  spite  of  all  efforts  the  Protestants  and  Humanists 
did  not  succeed  in  founding  a  sufficient  number  of  schools, 
one  of  the  reasons  being  a  lack  of  trained  teachers.  Great 
must  have  been  the  mass  of  young  people  who  wanted 
to  acquire  that  wonderful  knowledge  that  gave  man  such 
power  and  placed  a  poor  peasant's  son  on  the  same 
footing  with  the  son  of  a  noble  and  made  him  one  of  the 
ruling  class.  Those  who  lived  in  small  cities  and  vil- 
lages, no  matter  how  eager  they  were  for  knowledge, 
were  compelled,  as  they  had  been  in  the  century 
before,  to  leave  their  homes,  and  thus  the  institution 
of  the  fahrende  Schuler  (vagrant  scholars)  lasted 
until  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  The  wanderings  of 
these  vagrants  may  be  due  in  part  to  a  very  reason- 
able idea  which  has  exercised  a  greater  influence  on 
modern  university  life  in  Germany  than  in  any  other 
country,  and  even  forms  one  of  its  essential  features 


xxv  HUMANISM  AND  RENAISSANCE  IN  GERMANY  263 

at  present ;  namely,  that  the  teacher  is  more  impor- 
tant than  the  school.  This  is  seen  so  plainly  in  the 
frequent  change  of  the  student  from  one  German 
university  to  another  that  it  does  not  need  special 
illustration. 

The  short  tenure  of  office  of  principals  and  rectors  and 
frequent  quarrels  with  the  civil  and  Church  authorities 
made  frequent  changes.  Good  teachers  drew  a  great 
many  scholars  with  them.  Thus  wandering  became 
common ;  the  most  studious  would  easily  change  their 
school  in  case  they  thought  that  the  progress  in  a  city 
was  not  satisfactory,  or  they  heard  of  a  famous  teacher 
in  another  city.  This  unsettled  condition  was  of  course 
not  at  all  beneficial  to  weak  characters,  and  for  many 
the  jolly  vagrant  life  with  its  ad  ventures  was  preferred  to 
the  steady  life  of  the  student.  The  Vagrant  Scholars 
became  a  regular  nuisance ;  they  supported  themselves 
by  begging,  often  by  stealing  and  swindling.  The  older 
ones,  "Bacchanten,"  made  the  younger,  the  ABC 
" shooters,"  -" shoot"  meaning  in  then*  jargon  to 
steal,  —  beg  and  pilfer  for  their  benefit.  It  was  sup- 
posed, of  course,  that  the  older  ones  would  impart  ele- 
mentary instruction  to  the  beginners  —  an  obligation 
which  was  rarely  taken  seriously.  The  "Bacchanten" 
led  a  very  dissipated  life  and  enjoyed  a  very  bad  repu- 
tation. They  were  up  to  all  kinds  of  tricks  to  obtain 
money;  very  often  they  posed  as  magicians,  treasure 
finders,  exercisers,  and  the  like,  exploiting  with  great 
success  the  superstition  of  the  peaasnts.  In  spite  of 
all  this,  the  people  do  not  seem  to  have  been  so  very 
hostile  to  the  young  men  and  on  the  whole  seem  to 
have  looked  upon  their  tricks,  even  when  they  them- 
selves were  their  victims,  with  a  certain  indulgent, 
though  sometimes  rather  vexed,  humor,  just  as  the 


264  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

German  student  life  with  its  more  harmless  extrava- 
gance is  regarded  to-day. 

No  picture  of "  those  times  would  be  perfect  without 
taking  account  of  these  vagrants ;  they  were  one  of  the 
factors  in  arousing  the  interest  of  the  people  in  the 
educational  and  cultural  tendencies  of  the  period,  and 
they  are  themselves  witnesses  to  this  interest,  as  their 
whole  mode  of  living  indicates  that  they  came  from  the 
poorest  classes.  The  popularity  of  famous  teachers  who 
attracted  students  from  all  parts  of  the  country  and  all 
classes  of  the  population  may  be  realized  from  the  fact 
that  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
Sapidus,  who  kept  a  school  in  the  small  town  of  Schlet- 
stadt,  had  nine  hundred  scholars.  At  the  time  of 
Sturm,  whose  course  of  study  became  the  model  for 
modern  classical  education  and  for  the  Jesuit  schools  as 
well,  the  Gymnasium  at  Strassburg  had  four  thousand 
scholars,  of  whom  two  hundred  were  noblemen,  twenty- 
four  counts  and  baronets,  and  three  princes. 

In  order  to  give  an  idea  of  this  life,  perhaps  I  cannot 
do  better  than  translate  a  few  passages  from  the  de- 
scription of  Thomas  Platter,  who  wrote  his  autobiog- 
raphy in  1572,  when  he  was  himself  seventy-two  years 
old.  This  book  is  one  of  the  most  important  sources  for 
our  knowledge  of  life  in  the  tunes  of  the  Reformation. 

He  tells  us  that  when  nine  years  old  he  was  placed 
under  the  care  of  a  cleric  who  ill-treated  him  in  a  most 
cruel  manner.  Then  he  was  intrusted  to  the  guardian- 
ship of  a  vagrant  student  by  the  name  of  Paulus.  On 
then*  trip  from  his  home  in  the  Swiss  canton  of  Wallis, 
he  had  to  beg  for  himself  and  his  "Bacchant."  "On 
account  of  his  simplicity  and  rustic  language,"  he  re- 
ceived many  amis.  For  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  saw 
a  stove  of  the  kind  called  Kachelofen  covered  with 


xxv  HUMANISM  AND  RENAISSANCE  IN  GERMANY  265 

tiles,  still  to  be  found  in  Germany ;  at  first  he  saw  only 
two  big  tiles,  and  thought  it  was  a  calf.  When  he  saw 
some  geese,  which  likewise  were  new  to  him,  the  little 
fellow  ran  away  frightened,  and  screamed  as  if  he 
thought  it  was  the  devil.  In  Lucerne  he  saw 
for  the  first  tune  tiled  roofs,  and  "was  astonished 
at  the  red  roofs."  At  last  they  came  to  Zurich,  where 
Paulus  decided  to  wait  until  he  found  company  to  wan- 
der to  Meissen  hi  Saxony.  We  will  let  him  narrate  some 
of  his  experiences  in  his  own  words :  "In  the  meantime  I 
went  begging,  so  that  I  supported  Paulus  almost  entirely; 
for  when  I  came  into  a  tavern  the  people  liked  to  hear 
me  talk  hi  the  dialect  of  Wallis,  and  gave  to  me  will- 
ingly. After  we  had  waited  eight  or  nine  weeks,  we 
started  for  Meissen ;  it  was  a  long  trip  for  me,  who  was 
not  used  to  wandering  so  far ;  besides,  to  get  food  on  the 
road !  Well,  we  went,  eight  or  nine ;  three  little 
Schiitzen  (shooters)  and  other  big  Bacchants,  as  they 
are  called  in  those  places ;  among  these  I  was  the  small- 
est shooter  and  the  youngest.  When  I  could  not  walk 
any  longer,  my  cousin  Paulus  went  behind  me  with  a 
rod  or  switch  and  hit  my  bare  legs;  for  I  wore  no 
stockings  and  very  bad  shoes."  His  first  adventure 
he  narrates  as  follows :  "While  we  were  wandering  and 
talking  about  all  sorts  of  things,  the  Bacchants  said  to 
each  other,  it  was  custom  in  Meissen  and  in  Silesia  that 
the  scholars  might  steal  geese  and  other  eatables,  and 
nothing  was  done,  if  one  escaped  the  man  to  whom 
the  things  stolen  belonged.  One  day  we  were  not  far 
from  a  village ;  there  were  a  great  many  geese  together 
and  no  herdsman  with  them ;  for  every  village  had  its 
own  goose-herd — he  was  rather  far  away  with  the  cow- 
herd. Then  I  asked  my  companions,  the  shooters : 
'When  shall  we  be  at  Meissen,  so  that  I  may  kill  geese  ?' 


266  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

Said  they:  'We  are  there  now.'  Then  I  took  a  stone, 
threw  at  one,  and  hit  its  leg.  The  other  ones  flew  away, 
but  the  limping  one  could  not  get  up.  Then  I  took 
another  stone,  hit  its  head,  so  that  it  fell  down.  Then 
I  ran  near,  caught  the  goose,  and  with  it  under  my 
coat,  I  went  the  road  to  the  village.  Then  the  goose- 
herd  came  running  after  us,  and  shouted  in  the  village  : 
'The  boy  has  stolen  a  goose  from  me  !'  I  and  my 
fellow-shooters  fled,  and  the  goose's  feet  hung  out  from 
under  my  coat.  The  peasants  came  out  with  hatchets 
and  followed  after  us.  When  I  saw  I  could  not  escape 
with  the  goose,  I  dropped  it.  Outside  of  the  village  I 
jumped  off  the  road  into  brushwood.  But  two  of  my 
companions  ran  along  the  road  —  they  were  overtaken 
by  the  peasants.  Then  they  fell  on  their  knees,  asked  for 
mercy,  they  had  done  no  harm ;  and  when  the  peasants 
saw  they  were  not  the  ones  who  dropped  the  goose, 
they  went  back  to  the  village.  But  when  I  saw  them 
hurry  after  my  companions,  I  was  in  great  distress,  and 
said  to  myself :  '  Oh  God,  I  think  I  did  not  bless  myself 
to-day,'  as  I  had  been  taught  to  bless  myself  every  morn- 
ing." 

Of  such  adventures  Thomas  Platter  gives  a  great 
many ;  in  selecting  some  short  passages,  I  shall  try  to 
take  such  as  throw  an  incidental  light  on  general  con- 
ditions, as  public  safety,  hospitals,  and  others,  besides 
such  as  have  a  particular  bearing  on  the  life  of  the 
scholars  and  schools. 

After  relating  an  experience  with  murderers  near 
Niirnberg,  he  continues  :  — 

"About  a  mile  from  Naumburg,  our  big  companions 
stayed  behind  again  in  a  village :  they  wanted  to  eat 
together,  and  they  sent  us  ahead.  There  were  five  of  us ; 
then,  in  the  open  field,  there  came  eight  on  horseback 


xxv  HUMANISM  AND  RENAISSANCE  IN  GERMANY  267 

with  drawn  cross-bows  towards  us;  rode  around  us, 
asked  money  from  us,  and  aimed  their  arrows  at  us. 
One  of  us  —  who  was  rather  big  —  replies :  '  We  have 
no  money ! '  Then  our  companion  says  again :  '  We 
have  not  got  any  money  and  will  not  give  you  any 
money  and  we  do  not  owe  you  anything.'  Then  the 
horseman  drew  his  sword  and  struck  so  that  it  hissed 
close  to  his  head.  They  rode  off  towards  the  woods,  but 
we  went  towards  Naumburg. 

"In  Naumburg  we  stayed  several  weeks.  We 
shooters  went  to  sing  in  the  city,  those  who  could  sing ; 
but  I  went  begging;  we  went  to  no  school.  This  the 
others  would  not  allow,  and  threatened  to  drag  us  to 
school.  The  schoolmaster  sent  word  to  our  bacchants 
they  should  come  to  school  or  he  would  fetch  them.  .  .  . 
Anthony  (the  leader  of  the  bacchants)  sent  word  back, 
he  might  come  if  he  cared.  .  .  .  Then  we  little  shooters 
carried  stones  on  the  roof.  But  Anthony  and  others 
guarded  the  door.  Then  the  schoolmaster  came  with  a 
whole  procession  of  his  shooters  and  bacchants.  But 
we  boys  threw  stones  at  them,  so  that  they  were  com- 
pelled to  withdraw.  When  we  heard  that  we  had  been 
reported  to  the  magistrate,  we  went  to  Halle  in  Saxony 
and  went  to  the  school  at  St.  Ulrich's."  Theynext  go  to 
Dresden,  "but  there  was  not  one  good  school,  and  the 
lodgings  were  full  of  lice,  so  that  we  heard  them  rustle 
in  the  straw  beneath  us  at  night." 

"We  started  and  marched  towards  Breslau,  and  had 
to  suffer  much  hunger  on  the  road ;  so  that  some  days  we 
ate  only  raw  onions  and  salt,  some  days  roasted  acorns, 
crab-apples,  and  pears ;  many  a  night  we  had  to  sleep 
in  the  open,  as  we  were  nowhere  admitted  to  the  houses, 
no  matter  how  politely  we  asked  for  shelter ;  sometimes 
the  dogs  were  set  on  us. 


268  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

"But  when  we  came  towards  Breslau  in  Silesia, 
everything  was  plentiful,  arid  so  cheap  that  many  poor 
scholars  overate  themselves  and  fell  into  great  sickness. 
We  first  went  to  school  in  the  cathedral  of  the  Holy 
Cross.  .  .  .  The  city  of  Breslau  has  seven  parishes; 
each  has  a  special  school.  No  scholar  was  allowed  to 
go  to  another  one's  parish  to  sing,  or  they  would  shout 
'Ad  idem  !  Ad  idem ! '  Then  the  scholars  would  run 
together  and  beat  each  other  very  badly.  It  is  said, 
there  were  at  one  time  in  the  city  several  thousand 
bacchants  and  shooters,  who  all  supported  themselves 
by  alms.  It  is  also  said  that  some  had  been  there 
twenty  and  thirty  years  and  longer,  who  had  their 
shooters  to  attend  them.  I  have  brought  home  to  my 
bacchants  five  or  six  loads  in  one  evening  to  the  school 
where  they  stopped  at  the  time.  The  people  gave  to  me 
willingly  because  I  was  so  small  and  a  Swiss ;  for  they 
liked  the  Swiss  very  much.  They  felt  a  great  pity  for 
the  Swiss  because  they  had  suffered  greatly  in  the  big 
battle  at  Milan  just  at  that  time ;  as  was  generally  said  : 
'Now  the  Swiss  have  lost  their  best  pater  noster.'  For 
up  to  that  tune  they  were  thought  to  be  invincible." 
(The  battle  referred  to  is  commonly  called  the  Battle 
of  Marignano,  1515.) 

Here  follows  a  little  episode,  which  I  should  not  like 
to  omit,  although  it  is  of  a  more  personal  character,  as 
it  shows  the  loyalty  of  the  boy  in  spite  of  all  the  hardships 
he  had  to  suffer,  one  of  the  incidents  that  help  to  ex- 
plain why  the  Germans  think  faithfulness,  Treue,  one 
of  their  national  virtues. 

"One  day  I  came  across  two  gentlemen  or  squires 
in  the  market-place ;  I  learnt  later  that  one  was  a  Ben- 
zenauer,  the  other  a  Fugger.  They  were  promenading 
there.  Of  these  I  asked  alms,  as  it  was  the  custom  of  the 


xxv  HUMANISM  AND  RENAISSANCE  IN  GERMANY  269 

poor  scholars.  Said  the  Fugger  to  me:  'Whence  do 
you  hail?"  And  when  he  hears  that  I  am  a  Swiss,  he 
converses  with  Benzenauer,  and  says  to  me  afterwards : 
1  If  you  surely  are  a  Swiss,  I  shall  take  you  as  a  son  and 
will  confirm  it  before  the  city  council  here  in  Breslau ; 
but  you  must  pledge  yourself  that  you  will  be  with  me 
through  life;  to  be  present  where  I  am.'  Said  I:  'I 
am  commended  to  one  from  my  own  home,  I  will  ask  him 
about  it.'  But  when  I  asked  my  cousin  Paulus  about 
it,  he  said,  '  I  have  brought  you  from  your  home,  will 
likewise  surrender  you  again  to  your  people.  What 
they  tell  you  then,  you  may  do.'  Therefore  I  refused 
Fugger.  But  as  often  as  I  came  to  his  house,  he  did  not 
let  me  go  empty-handed. 

"Thus  I  stayed  there  for  some  time,  and  was  taken 
sick  three  times  in  one  winter,  so  that  I  had  to  be  taken 
to  the  hospital.  The  scholars  have  a  special  hospital 
and  a  doctor  of  their  own.  Sixteen  pennies  are  paid 
in  the  City  Hall  for  one  week ;  for  this  one  is  well  taken 
care  of ;  has  good  nursing  and  good  beds,  but  big  lice  in 
them,  as  big  as  ripe  hempseed,  so  that  I  much  preferred 
to  lie  on  the  floor  than  in  the  beds,  as  others  did  like- 
wise. The  scholars  and  bacchants  at  times,  even  the 
common  people,  are  so  full  of  lice  that  it  is  not  credible. 
I  could  have,  truly,  taken  out  of  my  bosom  three  lice 
at  once  as  often  as  required.  I  also  went  sometimes, 
especially  in  summer,  to  the  Oder  River,  the  water  that 
flows  by  there,  washed  my  shirt,  hung  it  on  a  bush  to 
dry,  and  in  the  meantime  picked  my  coat  of  lice,  made 
a  ditch,  threw  in  a  pile  of  lice,  covered  it  with  earth, 
and  placed  a  cross  on  it. 

"In  winter  the  shooters  lie  on  the  floor  in  the  schools ; 
the  bacchants,  however,  in  the  little  chambers^  of  which 
there  are  several  hundreds  at  St.  Elizabeth's.  But  in 


270  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

the  summer,  when  it  was  hot,  we  lay  in  the  churchyard 
and  collected  the  grass,  which  is  spread  in  front  of  the 
houses  in  the  better  streets  on  Saturdays.  Some  col- 
lected a  heap  of  this  in  the  churchyard,  and  we  lay  in  it 
as  pigs  in  the  litter.  But  when  it  rained,  we  ran  into 
school ;  and  when  there  was  a  thunder-storm  we  sang 
all  night  responsoria  and  other  sacred  songs  with  the 
subcantor. 

"  Sometimes  in  the  summer  we  went  into  the  beer- 
houses after  supper  to  beg  for  beer.  Then  the  intoxi- 
cated Parish  peasants  gave  us  a  drink,  so  that  I  often 
got  so  drunk  without  knowing  it,  that  I  could  not  come 
back  to  school,  though  I  was  not  farther  away  from 
school  than  a  stone's  throw.  Summary :  there  was 
food  enough,  but  not  much  study.  In  the  school  of  St. 
Elizabeth's,  nevertheless,  there  were  at  one  time  nine 
bachelors  of  arts  reading  in  one  room.  There  was 
'Grseca  lingua'  (the  Greek  language)  nowhere  in  the 
the  country.  Nor  had  anybody  printed  books ;  how- 
ever, the  prseceptor  had  a  printed  Terentius.  What 
was  read  was  to  be  dictated  first,  then  distinguished, 
then  construed,  at  last  explained,  so  that  bacchants  had 
to  carry  home  big  volumes  when  they  went  away." 

While  it  might  be  more  interesting  to  continue  this 
original,  contemporary  account  than  to  continue  my 
own  narrative,  I  am  afraid  I  have  given  Thomas  Platter's 
simple  story  of  himself  more  space  than  can  be  excused  by 
the  sidelights  he  throws  on  the  life  of  the  common  people 
in  general.  It  ought  to  be  pointed  out,  however,  that  in 
speaking  of  the  vermin  and  uncleanliness,  he  speaks 
distinctly  of  the  vagrant  class,  and  only  exceptionally  of 
the  poor  hi  general.  But  although  bathhouses  were 
frequent,  general  cleanliness  was  far  from  the  stage  to 
which  we  are  accustomed.  To  repeat  a  modern  author's 


xxv  HUMANISM  AND  RENAISSANCE  IN  GERMANY  271 

observation,  in  cleanliness  four  stages  of  develop- 
ment may  be  distinguished.  First  hardly  any  at- 
tention whatever  is  paid  to  it ;  then  we  find  cleanliness 
of  the  body  promoted  by  more  or  less  frequent  bathing ; 
after  this,  clothing  is  changed  and  washed  more  fre- 
quently, while  bathing  becomes  less  customary,  until  at 
last  both  body  and  clothes  are  regularly  kept  clean, 
and  alongside  of  the  washtub  the  bathtub  is  found  even 
in  the  quarters  of  the  masses. 

In  the  second  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  in- 
creasing interest  in  education  brought  about  by  the 
Reformation  began  to  be  noticeable  everywhere.  Still 
the  condition  of  the  common  school  especially  was  far 
from  satisfactory.  Schoolhouses  were  almost  unknown, 
and  the  teachers  badly  trained  and  poorly  paid.  In 
spite  of  all  declamations  of  Luther  and  the  reformers, 
discipline  was  cruel;  the  switch  was  still  solemnly 
handed  to  the  teacher  when  he  was  installed  in  his  office. 
Methods  were  utterly  mechanical,  although  some  of  the 
text-books  were  based  on  reasonable  principles. 

As  we  have  seen,  Humanism  was  not  one  of  the  direct 
causes  of  the  Reformation,  but  was  used  by  the  latter  as 
a  welcome  auxiliary  to  furnish  means  in  the  defence  of 
truth.  Only  a  few  rather  eccentric  younger  Human- 
ists dreamt  of  return  to  classical  paganism,  as  was 
common  with  the  learned  Italians.  As  to  the  aBsthetical 
side  of  the  Renaissance,  the  Italian  influences  entered 
Germany,  not  only  through  direct  communication  with 
Southern  Germany,  but  in  part  by  way  of  the  Nether- 
lands, where  after  the  change  in  the  economical  con- 
ditions of  the  interior,  German  culture  was  at  its  highest. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

CHANGE  IN  GENERAL  CONDITIONS 

Beginning  of  Decay 

AFTER  geographical  discoveries  had  changed  the  routes 
of  commerce,  the  importance  of  the  Atlantic  coast  was 
greatly  increased ;  the  great  rise  of  the  northern  provinces 
of  the  Netherlands  had  freed  Holland  from  the  yoke  of  the 
Spanish  Habsburgers,  and  the  spirit  of  the  Reformation, 
although  introduced  in  the  form  of  Calvinism,  had 
taken  hold  of  the  leading  classes ;  humanistic  education, 
and  the  training  given  by  commercial  enterprises  that 
reached  all  parts  of  the  globe,  had  widened  their  view 
sufficiently  to  admit  of  a  truly  religious  movement. 
They  refused  to  submit  again  to  a  narrow  orthodoxy  as 
German  Protestantism,  both  Lutheran  and  Reformed, 
had  done,  probably  because  it  had  been  forced,  in  order 
to  resist  the  emperors  with  their  Romish  tendencies,  to 
find  its  main  support  in  the  princes.  In  Holland  the 
French  thinkers  found  a  refuge  during  the  Huguenot 
persecutions ;  and  we  may  well  say  that  at  the  time  the 
young  republic  on  the  shores  of  the  North  Sea  was  the 
intellectual  centre  of  Europe. 

Unhappily  for  both  countries,  this  rise  took  place 
when  the  condition  of  the  Empire  favored  separatism. 
The  very  period  of  material  prosperity  and  highest 
intellectual  life  that  gave  us  artists  like  Rubens  and 
Rembrandt,  who  represent  the  highest  achievements 
of  German,  in  some  respects  of  any,  painting,  formed 

272 


CHAP,  xxvi       CHANGE   IN  GENERAL  CONDITIONS        273 

out  of  a  German  dialect  a  literary  language  which, 
though  still  understood  by  their  German  countrymen 
at  the  tune,  led  to  a  gradual  estrangement  of  culture. 
This  had  already  been  accomplished,  when  a  hundred 
years  later  the  political  separation  which  had  been  hi 
preparation  since  the  tunes  of  the  Interregnum  was 
officially  acknowledged ;  parts,  indeed,  of  Flanders  and 
Brabant  had  always  been  more  French  than  German. 

The  other  republic,  in  southern  Germany,  though 
likewise  emancipated  politically,  did  not  have  the  same 
favorable  conditions  for  independent  intellectual  develop- 
ment as  its  sister  in  the  north ;  and  German  Switzerland, 
therefore,  is  still  one  in  culture  with  the  mother  country, 
united  to  it  through  the  language  of  Luther's  Bible 
translation. 

The  great  influence  of  the  Renaissance  was  not 
sufficient  to  destroy  the  national  character  of  German 
art,  especially  where  it  met  with  a  progressive  develop- 
ment as  in  the  Low  Countries.  Its  application  was 
mainly  ornamental,  and  blending  with  northern 
architecture,  it  has  given  rise  to  many  splendid  build- 
ings. As  the  best  known  and  finest  specimen  of  German 
Renaissance  we  must  mention  the  Heidelberg  castle  in 
its  Ott-Heinrichsbau;  or  rather  the  beautiful  ruins 
as  they  have  stood  since  the  days  of  Me" lac.  The 
necessity  of  protecting  them  against  total  decay  has 
brought  forth  only  lately  a  controversy  in.  which 
the  intellectual  leaders  of  Germany  were  arrayed  in 
violent  protest  against  any  effort  of  restoration  that 
might  take  away  anything  from  their  original  character. 

The  greatest  influence  the  Renaissance  had  was  on 
industrial  art,  both  in  metal  and  woodwork;  in  the 
Netherlands  this  style  has  produced  a  number  of  won- 
derful masterpieces  in  textiles  and  laces. 


274  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

The  religious  enthusiasm  of  the  Reformation,  fol- 
lowed by  religious  wars,  and  the  rigid  intolerance  of 
the  orthodoxy  of  all  creeds,  had  proved  serious  draw- 
backs in  the  intellectual  world,  in  spite  of  the  impulses 
given  by  the  movement  itself  and  by  Humanism.  Of 
course,  there  was  a  decided  progress  in  the  sciences,  as 
will  be  seen  later. 

It  must  be  repeated,  however,  that  both  the  hu- 
manistic and  natural  sciences  were  not  popular  in  char- 
acter. For  some  time,  as  we  have  seen,  it  had  seemed 
as  if  Protestantism  and  Humanisim  would  join  in  a 
single  movement ;  but  the  dogmatic  character  assumed 
by  the  new  churches  did  not  appeal  to  the  men  of 
science,  who  saw  no  material  advance  over  old  condi- 
tions. Thus  science  gradually  was  removed  from  pop- 
ular life,  from  which  it  became  estranged  more  and 
more  by  the  use  of  the  Latin  language,  which  as  in  the 
monasteries  of  times  gone  by,  though  in  a  much  more 
elegant  and  correct  form,  had  again  taken  hold  of  the 
learned  world,  so  much  so  that  seventy  per  cent  of  the 
books  printed  in  Germany  were  in  Latin.  But  while 
this  separated  the  learned  from  their  own  people,  it 
connected  them  with  the  foreign  world.  Latin  had 
become  the  international  language  of  science ;  a  small 
compensation  for  the  loss  to  national  life  of  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  scholars,  who  became  more  and  more 
cosmopolitan  in  an  unpatriotic  sense. 

Thus  this  period  rent  the  German  nation  asunder  in 
different  ways  :  there  is  a  vertical  division,  so  to  speak, 
between  Catholic  and  Protestant  Germany,  —  a  division 
again  made  wider  in  modern  times  by  the  organization 
of  Catholics  as  a  political  party,  —  and  a  horizontal 
division  separating  the  educated  from  the  uneducated. 
This  breach,  although  apparently  widened  by  the  social 


xxvi  CHANGE  IN  GENERAL  CONDITIONS  275 

problems  of  to-day,  seems  to  show  signs  of  becoming 
bridged  over  under  the  influence  of  political  equality 
and  the  general  suffrage,  as  well  as  by  conscious  efforts 
of  far-sighted  patriots.  There  threatens,  however,  a 
new  division  of  rich  and  poor.  To  this  we  must  add 
the  tribal  and  regional  particularism  which,  together 
with  the  jealousy  of  the  princes  and  the  policy  of  the 
great  powers,  as  well  as  the  strong  sense  of  personality 
peculiar  to  the  national  character,  had  so  long  prevented 
German  political  unity.  We  can  thus  understand  why 
the  inner  life  of  the  German  Empire  does  not  offer  that 
harmonious  appearance  which  we  are  tempted  to  expect 
behind  the  solid  front  offered  to  the  outside  world. 

We  must  not  forget  the  cosmopolitan  tendencies  of 
scholars  when  we  read  of  the  unselfishness  of  German 
science,  which  found  early  recognition,  indeed.  We 
read  in  the  preface  to  a  new  edition  of  a  work  by  Bartho- 
lomseus  Pitiscus,  who  died  in  1613,  the  following  ac- 
knowledgment by  an  Italian:  "The  trigonometrical 
tables  were  intended  at  that  time  exclusively  for  astron- 
omy and  astronomy  was  not  needed  by  the  Germans 
for  their  navigation ;  astrology,  the  only  means  to  make 
true  or  pretended  knowledge  of  the  heavens  pay,  did  not 
call  for  such  subtle  calculations.  Love  of  science  alone 
incited  and  maintained  in  the  Germans  so  much  devo- 
tion and  so  much  industry."  In  reading  this  we  in- 
voluntarily think  of  those  words  of  Richard  Wagner, 
quoted  already :  "To  be  German  means  to  do  a  thing 
for  its  own  sake." 

On  the  whole,  we  may  say  that,  in  spite  of  the  social 
changes  which  followed  the  Peasants'  War,  and  the  com- 
mercial decay  which  began  to  overtake  Germany  with 
the  replacing  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea  by  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  as  the  highway  of  the  world's  commerce,  the  con- 


276  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

ditions  of  the  fifteenth  century,  which  we  found  to  be 
the  period  of  greatest  national  vigor,  lasted  to  the  mid- 
dle, almost  the  end,  of  the  sixteenth.  Jean  Bodin,  the 
French  historian,  who  died  in  1567,  was  still  able  to 
write  of  the  Germans  :  "In  humanity  they  are  superior 
to  the  Asiatics ;  in  the  art  of  warfare  to  the  Romans, 
in  philosophy  to  the  Greeks,  in  grammar  and  arithmetic 
to  the  Egyptians  and  Phrenicians,  in  astrology  to  the 
Chaldseans,  but  in  handicraft  to  all  nations."  The 
great  South  German  mercantile  firms,  mentioned  before, 
first  of  all  the  Fuggers,  managed  to  keep  off  their  down- 
fall more  or  less  until  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  surest  indications  of  decay  is  the 
evidence  of  foreign  influence  in  Germany.  One  of  the 
effects  of  the  religious  differences  which  even  led  to 
wars  must  have  been  a  weakening  of  the  national 
sense,  of  the  feeling  of  national  solidarity,  especially 
under  an  emperor  who  hardly  could  be  called  a  German. 
It  is  said  that  Charles  V  spoke  German  only  to  his 
horse ;  and  when  Ferdinand  I  became  king,  he  could 
not  speak  German  at  all.  Charles  V  placed  the  centre 
and  mainstay  of  his  power  in  Spain ;  and  the  troops 
with  which  he  fought  against  the  German  princes  for 
the  cause  of  his  dynasty  and  of  Rome  were  com- 
posed principally  of  Spaniards  and  other  foreigners. 
Thus  his  adversaries  naturally  found  their  support  in 
France.  When  a  candidate  for  the  German  crown  in 
opposition  to  Charles  V,  Francis  I  of  France,  offered  a 
pension  to  the  Prince  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  there 
was  only  one  feature  remarkable  in  its  acceptance, — he 
took  money  at  the  same  time  from  the  other  side.  For 
the  financial  support  of  German  princes  by  French 
kings  dates  far  back,  and  did  not  end  until  the  downfall 
of  Napoleon  I. 


xxvi  CHANGE  IN  GENERAL  CONDITIONS  277 

The  increase  in  power  of  the  territorial  lords,  the 
princes,  led  them  to  lay  greater  stress  upon  the  magnifi- 
cence of  their  courts.  For  this  the  splendor  and 
refinement  of  the  Burgundian  court  became  the  model, 
as  it  had  been  for  the  French  kings.  Travel  had  be- 
come the  fashion  for  the  sons  of  the  princes  and 
the  wealthy  noblemen,  for  whom  the  galanthomme 
was  the  educational  ideal,  and  this,  together  with  the 
attendance  at  foreign  universities,  had  done  its  share 
towards  introducing  foreign  elements.  In  short,  even 
in  the  sixteenth  century  we  find  the  weakening  of  the 
German  national  life  so  far  advanced  as  to  offer  no 
resistance  to  Italian,  Spanish,  and  French  influences, 
the  beginning  of  that  Fremdsucht,  that  weakness  for 
the  imitation  of  foreign  ways,  which,  because  it  is 
unnatural,  is  so  clumsy  and  awkward  in  the  average 
German,  and  has  at  times  menaced  even  his  national 
existence. 

The  separation  of  the  educated  from  the  common 
people  became,  of  course,  more  emphasized  by  the 
acceptance  of  the  foreign  styles.  For  happily  the  styles 
did  not  penetrate  deeply  into  the  masses  of  the  people, 
where  a  nation  always  must  find  the  overflowing  source 
of  its  regeneration;  and,  be  it  said  to  their  honor, 
even  in  the  better  classes  they  took  hold  a  great  deal 
less  of  the  women  than  of  the  men. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

POPULAR  RISINGS.      POLITICAL   DEVELOPMENT 

THE  deep  agitation  of  the  popular  soul  which  during 
the  transition  from  the  old  times  to  the  new,  coinciding 
with  the  greatest  vigor  of  the  nation,  brought  forth  the 
Reformation,  found  expression  in  many  movements 
and  in  many  changes,  some  of  which  cannot  be  passed 
over,  although  it  is  impossible  here  to  give  a  complete 
account  of  all  the  currents  as  they  reach  the  surface. 

One  of  these  was  the  movement  of  those  who  had 
suffered  under  the  economical  development  and  made 
an  effort  to  improve  their  social  condition  by  force. 
Just  as  to-day  the  tendency  towards  great  capitalistic 
enterprises,  with  an  elimination  of  the  economical  mid- 
dle classes,  causes  great  popular  unrest,  so  the  transi- 
tion from  the  agrarian  to  the  financial  basis  produced 
dissatisfaction,  misery,  and  popular  convulsions,  and 
it  took  centuries  for  conditions  to  become  settled. 
Even  then  there  were  a  great  many  complaints  about 
monopolies  and  trusts,  which  went  by  the  name  of 
the  great  commercial  companies ;  corners  in  produce 
were  frequent.  The  great  merchants,  as  the  Fuggers, 
the  Welsers,  and  the  Hochstetters  of  Augsburg,  con- 
trolled prices  to  a  great  extent,  even  in  the  foreign  mar- 
kets. The  immense  rise  in  the  cost  of  the  necessities 
of  life  was  attributed  to  the  great  capitalist  houses. 

There  were  three  groups  of  socially  dissatisfied  people, 
who,  however,  did  not  unite,  in  spite  of  occasional 

278 


CHAP,  xxvii  POPULAR  RISINGS  279 

concerted  action.  Not  one  of  them  was  created  by 
the  Reformation,  but  all  three  took  new  encouragement 
from  Luther's  appearance,  and  looked  hopefully  to 
him  as  an  ally.  These  three  parties  were  the  smaller 
nobility  (die  Reichsritterscha/t),  the  peasants,  and  the 
proletariate  in  the  cities.  Luther,  while  not  blind  to 
just  complaints,  and  demanding  in  very  plain  language 
fair  treatment  of  the  poor,  was  opposed  to  any  diso- 
bedience or  even  sedition  against  the  established  civil 
authority,  and  some  of  his  actions  lay  him  open  to  the 
suspicion  that  he  did  not  feel  free  to  take  a  stand  in 
opposition  to  the  princes,  who  were  his  support  against 
the  Catholic  Emperor.  Thus  his  alliance  with  Ulrich 
von  Hutten  was  a  very  frail  one ;  and  the  latter  was 
looked  upon  with  mistrust,  since  he  stood  with  Franz 
von  Sickingen  at  the  head  of  a  party  who  wanted  to 
break  the  power  of  the  princes  and  to  place  themselves 
entirely  under  the  Emperor. 

The  peasants,  whose  demands  were  comprised  under 
the  so-called  Twelve  Articles,  seemed  to  ask  nothing 
unreasonable  from  the  point  of  view  of  scriptural  teach- 
ing, and  one  cannot  help  concluding  from  this  and  other 
documents  that  they  had  intelligent  leaders  who  knew 
very  well  what  they  were  about.  Their  worst  mistake 
was  their  belief  that  Luther  was  with  them.  In  this 
they  were  not  illogical,  —  Luther  was  the  one  who  re- 
fused to  press  his  doctrines  to  their  conclusion,  and  it 
speaks  well  for  the  intellectual  standard  of  the  people 
that  Luther's  ideas  were  independently  developed. 
The  peasants  are  no  doubt  justly  accused  of  great 
atrocities,  but  their  demands  were  just,  and  they  were 
met  by  infamous  treachery  and  cruelty  challenging 
their  own.  Their  defeat  meant  a  serfdom  worse  than 
their  condition  had  ever  been  before. 


280  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

The  movement  in  the  cities  found  its  centre  in  the 
Anabaptist  sect,  whose  principal  leader  was  Thomas 
Munzer.  The  German  movement  culminated  in  the 
gruesome  orgies  of  religious  insanity  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Zion  in  Miinster,  too  well  known  to  be  repeated  here ; 
by  their  defeat  and  in  consequence  of  their  excesses, 
Roman  Catholicism  again  gained  a  firm  hold  of  West- 
phalia —  its  greatest  province  beyond  the  old  Roman 
territory.  The  reasonable  part  of  the  Anabaptist  doc- 
trine did  not  perish;  Menno  Simon  continued  it 
through  his  followers  in  Holland,  England,  and  North 
America. 

In  spite  of  the  noticeable  symptoms  of  decay  and  ex- 
haustion, to  which  we  return  in  our  next  chapter,  the 
second  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  does  not  offer  the 
spectacle  of  decreasing  prosperity;  we  cannot,  on  the 
whole,  even  speak  of  stagnation.  Hamburg  knew  how 
to  hold  her  own,  and  retained  a  considerable  part  of  her 
maritime  commerce,  a  good  foundation  for  future 
greatness,  although  the  cities  of  the  Hansa  failed  to 
grasp  the  changed  situation  at  the  right  moment. 
The  German  crafts  kept  their  good  name  all  over  the 
world.  German  woollens  in  particular  remained  very 
popular,  their  fibre  preserving  its  excellent  quality 
through  the  high  development  of  domestic  sheep-breed- 
ing. The  greatest  commercial  centre  was  now  Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main,  through  which  passed  the  great  over- 
land trade  routes  north  of  the  Alps.  The  great  firms 
of  southern  Germany  were  the  principal  bankers  of 
the  world. 

The  relatively  long  period  of  peace,  which  followed 
the  religious  convention  of  Augsburg,  1555,  the  gradual 
disappearance  of  private  warfare  due  to  the  growth  of 
the  power  of  the  territorial  princes,  and  the  final  sue- 


xxvn  POPULAR  RISINGS  281 

cess  of  legal  reform  had  allowed  the  Reformation  to 
become  effective  in  the  social  conditions  of  the  country, 
and  in  spite  of  a  great  many  drawbacks  and  great  dif- 
ferences in  the  conditions  of  the  single  states,  which 
may  account  for  the  difference  of  opinion  between 
historians,  the  people  on  the  whole  must,  towards  the 
end  of  the  century,  have  enjoyed  a  fairly  comfort- 
able existence.  Even  the  peasants  were  benefited  by 
greater  attention  and  protection  on  the  part  of  some  of 
the  territorial  governments  after  these  had  gained  con- 
trol over  the  nobility.  Even  in  the  places  where  the 
noblemen  had  not  yet  learned  to  submit  to  the  new 
state  of  affairs  and  made  their  few  serfs  work  for  them, 
they  understood  that  it  was  to  their  own  interest  not 
to  draw  the  reins  too  tight. 

In  some  respects  and  in  a  few  instances  princes  and 
city  governments  had  been  influenced  by  the  Reforma- 
tion in  the  most  favorable  manner.  As  individuals, 
it  made  them  conscious  of  responsibility,  which  showed 
itself  among  other  things  in  a  better  training  of  govern- 
ment officials  and  an  acquirement  of  greater  knowledge. 
Many  improvements  are  due  to  the  Estates,  which  made 
use  of  the  financial  straits  of  the  princes  to  secure  them. 

An  unexpected  increase  of  power  was  brought  by 
the  Reformation  in  the  first  place  to  the  Protestant 
princes,  to  whom  nearly  all  the  privileges  of  the  Papal 
and  Episcopal  authority  were  transferred,  by  the  con- 
fiscation of  Church  property,  although  wise  princes 
applied  the  greater  part  of  this  to  the  maintenance  of 
churches,  schools,  and  other  institutions  for  public 
welfare.  But  this  increase  in  material  power  was  not 
the  only  gain  in  strength  which  the  princes  owed  to 
the  Reformation ;  their  authority  was  also  greatly 
strengthened  from  the  moral  point  of  view.  Luther 


282  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

took  a  most  decided  stand,  especially  in  later  years,  in 
favor  of  the  "  divinely  appointed  government."  We 
have  seen  how  he  sided  with  the  princes  against  the 
rebellious  peasants,  although  he  did  not  fail  to  appreci- 
ate the  justice  of  the  grievances.  Again  and  again  he 
demands  strict  and  unquestioning  obedience  to  the 
authorities  in  power,  and  the  position  taken  by  him 
has  certainly  proved  a  strong  factor  in  firmly  estab- 
lishing the  monarchical  principle  in  Germany  to  the 
present  day;  let  alone  the  influence  of  the  fact  that 
the  monarch  was  made  by  Luther  the  highest  bishop, 
summus  episcopus,  of  the  Protestant  Church  in  his  state. 
The  higher  level  of  conscientiousness  and  training 
on  the  part  of  princes  and  their  officials  brought  about 
better  and  more  economical  administration,  and  aug- 
mented the  income  from  the  resources  of  the  state. 
Many  a  prince  set  out  to  increase  the  prosperity  and 
thereby  the  taxable  property  in  his  territory  by  means 
of  improvements  which  could  not  fail  to  benefit  the 
peasants  likewise;  however,  these  cases  were  rather 
the  exception.  In  this  respect,  also,  Protestant  influence 
was  felt  in  Catholic  territories.  In  order  to  keep  some 
doubtful  princes  in  the  old  Church,  the  Papal  See  had 
to  surrender  many  ecclesiastical  possessions  and  privi- 
leges. The  Jesuits  had  now  become  the  councillors 
in  the  government  and  the  teachers  of  the  Catholics 
in  everj'thing.  Their  order,  founded  in  1540,  soon  had 
made  its  special  ami  to  defeat  the  heretics,  that  is, 
Protestantism,  and  its  stronghold  was  the  Collegium 
Germanicum — which  ought  to  have  been  called  anti- 
Germanicum — in  Rome.  The  Council  of  Trent  had 
finally  established  the  Catholic  dogma  in  a  rigid  form; 
but  at  the  same  time  a  moral  reform  had  taken  place. 
No  men  like  the  Borgias  have  held  the  See  of  St.  Peter 


xxvn  POPULAR  RISINGS  283 

since  the  days  of  Luther,  and  no  such  terrible  accusa- 
tions against  the  higher  priesthood  have  been  heard  as 
before  his  day.  Thus  the  counter-Reformation  under 
the  skilful  management  of  the  Jesuits  made  good  prog- 
ress in  the  territories  of  the  Catholic  princes,  es- 
pecially in  the  hereditary  lands  of  the  emperors,  so 
that  nearly  one-half  of  the  Germans  were  again  con- 
sidered Catholics.  Still,  the  Protestant  princes  had 
not  been  troubled,  and  began  to  think  themselves  safe 
under  the  guarantees  of  the  Augsburg  Convention.  As 
we  have  seen,  new  economic  interests  began  to  develop, 
and  the  new  art  of  government  became  more  and  more 
familiar. 

Legal  unity  had  at  last  been  made  possible  by  the 
>so-called  Carolina,  Die  peinliche  Halsordnung,  of 
Charles  V,  and  the  highest  imperial  court  had  gained 
more  influence.  Also  in  the  realm  of  art,  which  had 
suffered  under  the  religious  excitement,  new  life  was 
noticeable,  as  we  have  seen  before.  The  Meistersinger, 
of  whom  Hans  Sachs,  the  shoemaker  and  poet  of  Augs- 
burg, who  as  the  best  type  of  German  burgher  deserves 
more  attention  than  he  can  find  here,  and  the  Carnival 
plays,  Ithe  great  satirists,  the  beginnings  of  a  national 
drama,  gave  hope  of  a  new  literature.  Seventeen  mill- 
ions of  Germans  were  looking  towards  a  happy  and 
powerful  growth  under  the  new  conditions,  still  think- 
ing themselves  invincible  in  their  unity,  when  the  Em- 
peror himself,  eager  to  usurp  absolute  power  for  himself 
and  the  Church  of  Rome,  both  inseparable  by  origin  and 
tradition,  lighted  the  torch  of  war  in  his  own  fatherland. 

The  calamity  brought  about  by  this  war  has  been  so 
great  that  it  cannot  be  understood  unless  there  had 
been  forces  at  work  quite  contrary  to  the  hopeful  aspect 
apparent  to  the  superficial  observer. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

SUMMARY   OF   THE    DESTRUCTIVE   TENDENCIES   IN 
GERMAN  LIFE 

AFTER  we  have  just  seen  the  German  nation  in  its 
fullest  vigor,  it  is  astonishing  to  observe  it  sinking  al- 
most to  complete  annihilation  in  a  comparatively  short 
time ;  and  the  question  at  once  arises,  how  it  was  pos- 
sible for  a  nation  apparently  so  powerful  to  offer  so  lit- 
tle resistance  to  the  calamity  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 
Although  here  and  there  some  symptoms  of  weakness 
had  become  noticeable,  as  shown  in  previous  parts  of 
this  narrative,  yet  the  appearances  described  in  the 
last  chapters  seemed  to  warrant  the  hope  of  a  renewed 
healthy  growth  which  might  have  survived,  though 
arrested  by  a  war.  This  war,  however,  was  more  than 
a  cutting  off  of  growth,  a  simple  arresting  of  progress ; 
the  downfall  was  so  deep  that  at  the  risk  of  some  repe- 
tition, and  even  apparent  contradiction,  it  seems 
desirable  to  give  a  summary  of  the  causes  leading  to 
the  decay  of  Germany,  which  was  made  evident  and 
complete  by  the  Great  War. 

It  has  been  said  that  perhaps  the  very  vigor  referred 
to  led  to  overexertion,  of  which  a  certain  exhaustion 
in  the  vital  forces  of  the  nation  was  the  consequence; 
a  similar  but  less  visible  decline  is  declared  by  some 
writers  to  have  taken  place  after  the  great  work  of 
eastern  expansion.  Nevertheless,  national  physiol- 
ogy, as  has  been  justly  said,  is  not  a  science,  but  a 

284 


CHAP,  xxvni         DESTRUCTIVE  TENDENCIES  285 

problem,  and  will  hardly  lend  itself  as  yet  to  historical 
explanation.  As  symptoms  of  this  physical  exhaus- 
tion, the  great  increase  in  the  death  rate  is  mentioned ; 
it  is  furthermore  pointed  out  that  in  the  middle 
of  the  sixteenth  century  there  appears  to  be  a  retro- 
gression of  the  Germanic  type  and  a  visible  in- 
crease of  the  dark  and  round-headed  type.  On  the 
psychical  side  the  ready  reception  of  foreign  influences 
is  remarkable,  while  the  beginning  of  the  caste-like 
separation  of  the  classes  seems  to  be  more  of  a  cause 
than  of  a  symptom. 

Leaving  aside  these  rather  speculative  assertions  of 
the  race-theorists,  the  historians  stand  on  safer  ground 
when  they  base  their  reasons  principally  on  the  politi- 
cal conditions  of  the  Empire  and  the  unpatriotic  self- 
ishness of  the  territorial  princes;  on  the  convulsions 
caused  by  the  Reformation,  both  in  national  and  indi- 
vidual life,  increased  by  the  reception  of  the  Roman 
law ;  on  the  weakening  of  economic  life  by  the  changed 
routes  of  the  world's  commerce,  the  strengthening  of 
the  northern  nations,  and  the  development  of  capi- 
talism with  its  unwholesome  consequences.  We  shall 
see  that  the  princes  took  advantage  of  the  very  condi- 
tions that  helped  to  ruin  the  nation. 

It  has  been  pointed  out  that  in  contrast  to  the  French 
and  English  kings  the  German  emperors  had  not  been 
able  to  hold  their  own  against  the  higher  nobility, 
either  because  their  ambition  for  a  universal  empire 
and  Italian  politics  withdrew  their  attention  and  energy 
from  their  northern  kingdom,  or  because  the  German 
sense  of  independence  and  individuality  and  thirst  for 
power  and  honor  had  been  too  strong.  Since  the  days 
of  the  Interregnum,  at  all  events,  the  emperors  had 
been  divested  of  almost  all  sovereign  power,  and  were 


286  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

compelled  to  make  the  increase  of  their  family  posses- 
sions the  chief  end  of  their  policy.  They  had  not, 
however,  ceased  to  be  the  successors  of  the  Roman 
emperors ;  with  the  Pope  they  still  morally  represented 
the  highest  power  on  earth,  and  stood  in  the  place  of 
God ;  they  represented  the  entire  nation ;  but,  as  Bryce 
points  out,  since  in  the  Reformation  they  took  sides 
with  the  Roman  Catholics,  they  became  directly  hos- 
tile to  a  great  part  of  the  nation,  and  were  in  reality 
degraded  to  partisan  chiefs.  The  lack  of  central  power, 
however,  had  long  been  an  invitation  to  the  neighboring 
monarchs  to  enrich  themselves  by  taking  one  slice  after 
another  of  the  frontier  possessions  they  coveted.  Those 
fiefs  which  were  not  closely  connected  with  Germany 
soon  became  sovereign  or  became  vassals  of  France. 

With  the  battle  of  Bouvines  had  begun  the  great  and 
everlasting  struggle  with  France,  and  this  first  victory 
indicated  clearly  the  side  which  would  ultimately  derive 
the  greatest  advantage.  It  is  not  our  task  to  enumer- 
ate all  the  acquisitions  of  German  territory  by  the 
French  by  fair  means  and  foul.  While  single  cases  of 
corruption  in  high  quarters  had  occurred  before,  we 
may  repeat  that  from  1333,  when  Henry  of  Lower 
Bavaria  accepted  his  bribe  from  the  French  king,  to 
1815,  the  history  of  the  German  princes  is  a  continuous 
account  of  disgraceful,  treacherous  venality.  Charles 
VII  of  France  declared  he  did  not  fear  the  German 
princes ;  he  would  beat  them  all ;  he  only  feared  the 
cities  and  the  peasants.  Charles  VIII  could  dare  openly 
to  aspire  to  a  universal  empire.  At  the  imperial  elec- 
tions the  princes  took  money  from  both  parties ;  the 
most  infamous  dickering,  perhaps,  was  that  which  has 
already  been  mentioned  at  the  accession  of  Charles  V, 
whose  rival  for  the  imperial  crown  was  Francis  I. 


xxvin  DESTRUCTIVE   TENDENCIES  287 

Francis'  successor,  Henry  II,  felt  that  his  adherents  in 
Germany  were  strong  enough  for  him  to  call  himself 
officially  "protector  of  German  liberties "  without  fear 
of  resentment. 

In  the  East  Poland  had  defeated  the  Teutonic  Order, 
and  had  taken  valuable  parts  of  Prussia ;  Russia  under 
Ivan  the  Terrible  took  Livonia ;  Sweden  took  Esthland. 

But  while  Brandenburg-Prussia  found  in  the  House 
of  Hohenzollern  strong  rulers  who  put  a  stop  to 
further  inroads,  France  was  allowed  to  continue  her 
depredations  in  the  West.  At  a  later  period  the  jeal- 
ousy of  the  Emperor  repeatedly  deprived  the  national 
policy  and  military  prowess  of  Brandenburg  of  well- 
earned  success.  No  wonder  foreign  monarchs  acquired 
the  habit  of  treating  German  princes  and  the  German 
people  with  contempt,  and  could  not  readily  rid  them- 
selves of  the  habit  when  both  the  moral  character  and 
the  power  of  Germany  had  been  restored.  In  1570 
the  Order  of  the  Princes  in  the  Reichstag  urged  the  con- 
dition of  affairs  on  the  attention  of  the  Prince-Electors, 
saying  that  "  foreigners  sneered  more  and  more  at  Ger- 
man discord  and  impotence  which  allowed  France  to 
take  the  bishoprics  (Metz,  Toul,  Verdun)  and  other 
imperial  property ;  Poland  to  take  Prussia,  and  the 
Muscovites  Livonia."  The  Electors  replied  that  "this 
affair  had  to  give  way  to  other  troubles."  Thus  Ger- 
many's position  among  the  nations  was  given  up  by 
those  who  ought  to  have  been  the  first  to  defend  it. 

Although  the  literature  of  the  time  does  not  show  a 
lack  of  national  feeling,  yet  the  Reformation  had  de- 
stro}red  the  ethical  unity  of  the  people ;  Protestants  and 
Catholics  formed  hostile  camps,  while  Lutherans  and 
Calvinists  were  no  nearer  to  one  another.  A  great 
confusion  took  hold  of  the  people,  who  among  so  many 


288  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

different  doctrines  did  not  know  which  to  choose. 
These  controversies  were  of  a  dogmatic,  that  is,  more 
of  a  theological  than  religious,  character,  and  failed  to 
satisfy  the  demands  of  the  heart. 

One  of  the  consequences  of  the  doctrine  of  "  justifica- 
tion through  faith  alone"  and  the  vanity  of  good  deeds 
was  a  great  falling  off  in  charity,  which  increased  the 
dissatisfaction  of  the  poor  to  a  high  degree,  and  also 
had  its  share  in  the  general  economic  depression.  A 
number  of  epidemics  increased  the  misery.  We  have 
spoken  already  of  the  disappointment  of  the  poor  and 
oppressed,  especially  the  peasants,  when  they  found 
that  the  relief  they  had  expected  from  religious  reform 
did  not  come. 

The  mutual  hatred  of  the  religious  parties  found 
expression  in  continuous  reviling;  the  language  of 
Luther  exhibits  only  too  plainly  that  Grobianism, 
that  intentional  rudeness,  which  had  been  first  affected 
by  the  rising  burgesses  in  the  cities  in  the  antagonism 
to  the  over-refinement  of  the  knights.  It  certainly 
reached  its  height  at  this  time.  It  is  curious  to  read 
in  the  present  bitter  struggle  between  the  "  classes  and 
the  masses"  in  Germany  that  certain  Socialist  agitators 
recommend  to  their  followers  to  display  as  much  rude- 
ness in  manners  and  language  as  possible  in  their  inter- 
course with  the  " bourgeois";  surely  a  regrettable 
reappearance  of  an  old  German  trait.  An  illustration 
of  how  great  the  general  intolerance  was,  and  not  with 
Germans  only,  is  given  by  the  opposition  which  met  the 
corrected  calendar  of  Pope  Gregory  XIII,  promulgated 
in  1582.  Plain  and  reasonable  as  it  was,  because  it 
was  proposed  by  the  Pope,  it  was  met  by  the  Protestants 
with  the  greatest  opposition ;  in  the  Protestant  parts 
of  Germany,  and  in  the  Netherlands,  it  was  not  intro- 


xxvin  DESTRUCTIVE  TENDENCIES  289 

duced  until  1700,  in  Denmark  in  1710,  in  England  (and 
its  American  colonies)  only  in  1752. 

If  we  read  of  Luther's  bodily  encounters  with  the 
devil,  we  cannot  wonder  that  this  time  of  unrest  was 
wild  with  superstition;  that  persecution  of  witches 
gained  renewed  vigor;  belief  in  miracles,  in  magic  art, 
in  demoniacal  powers,  and  the  fear  of  ghosts  were 
rampant,  and  increased  the  gene/al  excitement. 

It  is  but  natural  that  in  these  times  the  national 
German  weakness,  drunkenness,  became  more  common 
than  ever.  It  was  during  the  Peasants'  War  that 
brandy  became  popular  (first  reported  in  Italy  in  the 
beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  probably  of 
Arabic  origin). 

On  the  other  hand,  to  show  one  bright  spot  in  the 
dreary  picture,  the  accounts  leave  no  doubt  that  sexual 
immorality  had  greatly  decreased  and  family  life 
improved. 

Beneficial  as  the  Reformation  has  been  to  education, 
we  have  already  seen  that  its  first  result  was  a  general 
hostility  towards  schools,  especially  universities ;  the 
clergy  and  the  scholars,  in  the  opinion  of  the  people,  had 
been  the  great  deceivers  who  had  led  them  to  the 
Antichrist ;  the  new,  i.e.,  the  Roman  law,  which  was 
taught  in  the  universities,  helped  to  increase  this  dis- 
trust. The  number  of  students  in  Erfurt  dropped  from 
311  in  1520  to  120  in  1521,  and  to  34  in  1524;  in  Ros- 
tock from  about  300  to  15  in  1525.  In  the  same  year 
Heidelberg  had  more  professors  than  students ;  Vienna 
came  down  from  7000  to  a  few  dozen,  and  the  rest 
fared  similarly. 

As  another  reason  for  the  temporary  decrease  of 
university  students,  we  find  given  the  attraction  of  a 
business  career  for  the  brightest  and  most  intelligent 


290  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

young  men  —  which  sounds  quite  modern.  Another 
complaint  is  that  the  students  showed  more  interest  in 
theological  disputes,  outside  agitation,  and  the  distri- 
bution of  pamphlets  than  in  their  studies.  During  the 
rest  of  the  century  there  is  no  end  to  complaints  of  the 
wild  life  of  the  students.  Another  symptom  of  the 
general  weakening  of  the  interest  in  education  will  be 
found  in  the  great  falling  off  in  the  sale  of  books ;  from 
the  dignified  trade  of  regular  and  wealthy  booksellers 
it  had  fallen  mostly  into  the  hands  of  pedlers. 

But  of  all  the  signs  of  the  national  decay,  the  weaken- 
ing of  the  cities,  with  their  population  of  merchants  and 
craftsmen,  who  for  more  than  two  centuries  had  been 
the  bearers  of  culture,  is  the  most  significant.  It 
happened  about  the  time  when  the  discovery  of  the 
sea  route  to  India  and  to  America  had  entirely  changed 
the  routes  of  the  international  trade,  that  other  nations 
had  gained  sufficient  strength  to  make  themselves 
commercially  independent  of  the  comparative  monop- 
oly of  the  Hansa  merchants.  Holland  was  the  first 
to  become  a  dangerous  rival,  since  the  closing  of  the 
outlets  of  the  Rhine,  the  Maas,  and  the  Scheldt  by  ever- 
increasing  tolls  almost  entirely  destroyed  the  commerce 
of  the  Rhine  cities.  It  is  only  by  completing  its  great 
canal  system  that  Germany  can  free  the  commerce  of 
the  Rhine  valley  from  paying  tribute  to  Holland. 
England  deprived  the  Hansa  of  its  old  privileges,  and 
soon  complaints  are  heard;  Germany  is  flooded  with 
English  woollens,  causing  a  useless  imperial  decree 
against  the  English  merchant-adventurers  in  1597. 
It  was  not  long  before  the  Scandinavian  countries 
followed,  and  soon  the  Baltic  Sea  ceased  to  be  German 
and  Dutch ;  English  and  Danish  ships  took  the  place 
of  those  of  the  Hansa.  A  strong  support  by  the  Em- 


xxvni  DESTRUCTIVE  TENDENCIES  291 

pire,  as  well  as  a  broader  policy  of  the  cities  themselves, 
might  have  saved  some  of  their  power,  but  the  plan 
of  Emperor  Maximilian  II  to  build  a  German  imperial 
navy  failed  to  find  the  approval  of  the  Reichstag. 

We  have  seen  that  the  great  merchants  of  southern 
Germany,  as  well  as  the  great  trading  companies,  had 
amassed  considerable  capital,  and  even  thus  early  we 
observe  the  bad  consequences  of  capitalism  of  which 
we  complain  to-day,  such  as  rings,  corners,  monopolies, 
artificial  raising  of  prices,  etc.  As  early  as  the  begin- 
ning of  the  sixteenth  century,  we  read  in  a  report  to  the 
Reichstag  in  Niirnberg:  "On  account  of  the  insuffer- 
able oppression  which  comes  from  the  great  companies, 
riots  of  the  common  people  have  occurred  in  some  cities, 
and  greater  riots  are  to  be  expected  unless  a  remedy  be 
found."  The  following  resolution  was  passed  by  the 
Austrian  diet  in  1518:  "The  great  companies  have 
brought  under  their  control  by  themselves  or  their 
agents  all  goods  which  are  indispensable  to  man,  and 
are  so  powerful  by  the  strength  of  their  money  that 
they  cut  off  trade  from  the  common  merchant  who  is 
worth  from  one  to  ten  thousand  florins;  they  set  the 
prices  at  their  pleasure,  and  increase  them  at  their  will, 
by  which  they  visibly  grow  less  in  number;  but  a 
few  of  them  grow  into  a  princely  fortune  to  the  great 
detriment  of  the  country."  Might  I  not  have  taken 
these  quotations  just  as  well  from  a  modern  news- 
paper? Monopolies  were  facilitated  by  the  fact  that 
only  the  financially  strongest  could  afford  to  visit  the  dis- 
tant markets  ;  spice,  for  example,  which  formerly  could 
be  bought  in  Venice  by  any  smaller  merchant,  could 
not  be  bought  this  side  of  Lisbon.  Speculation  was 
common.  "Get  rich  quick"  schemes  were  understood 
then,  as  well  as  now,  and  everybody  who  could  afford  some 


292  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP, 

cash  invested  in  business  enterprises  with  the  great 
companies.  The  princes  took  a  prominent  part  in  this, 
and  before  long  they  had  learned  the  advantage  of 
monopolies,  which  were  much  easier  for  them  to  estab- 
lish by  decree  than  for  the  merchants  by  the  most 
skilful  scheming.  Great  failures  were  the  natural 
outcome  of  the  instability  of  business.  The  small 
people  lost  all  their  savings.  Famous  was  the  failure 
of  the  Hochstetters  in  Augsburg  in  1529,  with  liabilities 
to  the  amount  of  800,000  florins;  according  to  our 
present  value  of  money,  this  failure  amounted  to 
$6,500,000.  It  is  expressly  stated  that  not  only 
princes,  counts,  and  other  noblemen  were  losers,  but 
also  peasants,  and  male  and  female  servants.  Other 
famous  failures  were  that  of  the  firm  of  Roth,  which 
had  tried,  unsuccessfully,  a  corner  in  pepper,  and  the 
two-million  bankruptcy  of  the  Loitzes  in  Stettin.  A 
scarcity  of  money  set  in,  and  the  old  tricks  of  the  deteri- 
oration of  coin  were  used.  Again  the  " Kipper"  (who 
clipped  the  coins)  and  "Wipper"  (who  picked  out  the 
good  corns  for  melting,  and  circulated  the  bad)  came 
into  prominence,  and  in  some  instances  even  a  return  to 
barter  is  reported. 

These  conditions  did  not  fail  to  influence  industry, 
as  the  people  had  no  means  to  buy.  Indeed,  the  craft- 
guilds  had  outlived  themselves.  Their  efforts  to  mo- 
nopolize the  crafts  began  to  fail  more  and  more ;  indi- 
viduals refused  to  submit  to  strict  control  as  easily  as 
in  former  times.  The  friendly  relations  between 
masters  and  journeymen  had  changed  into  antagonism; 
"shorter  hours  and  higher  wages"  were  the  demands 
then,  as  now.  There  was  no  need  of  organizing,  for 
the  men  were  as  closely  organized  in  associations  as 
their  masters  were  in  the  craft-guilds. 


xxvni  DESTRUCTIVE  TENDENCIES  293 

The  peasants,  who  in  many  smaller  towns  were  the 
principal  customers,  could  afford  to  buy  as  little  as  the 
people  in  the  cities.  The  Peasants'  War  had  nearly 
ruined  agriculture  in  some  parts  of  Germany,  and  the 
increasing  oppression  of  the  peasants  that  followed 
left  them  in  the  greatest  poverty. 

As  if  everything  had  joined  to  bring  about  the  ruin 
of  the  nation  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  mines  began 
to  give  out ;  the  output  became  steadily  smaller.  The 
companies  tried  to  make  up  their  losses  by  making  the 
miners  pay  for  it.  Company  stores  were  opened,  and 
the  miners  were  forced  to  buy  their  supplies  of  them  at 
exorbitant  prices.  Tout  comme  chez  nous  ! 

Even  more  than  crafts,  art,  which  at  that  time  was 
connected  with  them,  had  to  suffer.  Let  alone  the 
ravages  of  the  Protestant  iconoclasts,  the  interest  in 
theological  questions  left  no  room  for  any  other.  There 
was  a  general  indifference  and  poverty  of  imagina- 
tion. The  latter  is  seen  in  the  scarcity  of  the  Christian 
names  of  the  period  ;  we  find  a  few  names  over  and  over 
again,  which  finally  led  to  the  adoption  of  two  Chris- 
tian names  to  make  a  distinction  possible.  Besides, 
there  was  an  increase  of  rudeness,  referred  to  already, 
which  may  have  been  increased  by  the  introduction  of 
torture  into  legal  procedure.  The  decrease  of  chari- 
table works  in  general,  the  lack  of  the  incentive  afforded 
by  the  supposed  value  of  the  patronage  of  the  saints, 
combined  with  all  the  other  causes  to  prevent  larger 
orders  for  monumental  works  of  art  or  buildings.  The 
spirit  of  the  Reformation  had  in  it  more  than  one 
element  hostile  to  art,  and  economic  conditions  began 
to  be  unfavorable  for  it. 

So  suddenly  came  this  crash  that  it  cut  deeply  into 
the  lives  of  the  individual  artists,  as  we  see  in  the 


294  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

biographies  of  Albrecht  Diirer,  of  Hans  Sachs,  of 
Dill  Riemenschneider.  The  younger  Holbein  tried  for 
a  time  to  make  a  scanty  living  as  a  house  and  sign- 
painter,  and  painted  coats  of  arms  at  two  florins  apiece. 
Finally  he  emigrated  to  England  to  find  new  glory  and 
wealth.  The  only  ones  that  could  afford  to  give  larger 
orders  were  the  princes  and  the  few  great  merchants. 
But  under  the  foreign  influences  which  began  to  make 
themselves  felt  at  that  time,  they  favored  the  imported 
art  of  the  Renaissance.  The  development  of  German 
national  art,  aside  from  the  Netherlands,  was  cut  short 
with  the  collapse  that  set  an  end  to  Diirer's  and  Hol- 
bein's work,  so  near  the  summit  of  ever-growing  great- 
ness. The  Renaissance  in  Germany  never  evoked 
that  warmth  of  life  which  is  essential  in  German  art ; 
it  showed  best  in  the  small  art  of  the  crafts,  but  for 
German  art  "the  Renaissance  was,"  as  M.  Rohse  says, 
"not  a  revival,  but  suicide." 

It  has  been  shown  recently  that  the  introduction  of 
Roman  law  did  not  meet  with  such  passionate  resistance 
as  has  been  generally  believed.  If  this  be  true,  it  must 
have  been  because  the  people  did  not  know  what  they 
were  doing,  which  is  quite  natural.  Those  able  to 
judge  were  the  learned  jurists,  who  were  naturally 
admirers  of  this,  logically  the  most  perfect  law  in  the 
world's  history.  In  order  to  recognize  the  evil  conse- 
quences of  the  Roman  law,  all  that  is  necessary  is  to 
compare  the  development  of  legal  institutions  in  Eng- 
land with  those  in  Germany.  However,  contempo- 
raneous voices  which  object  to  the  new  law,  and  others 
which  unconsciously  show  its  pernicious  effect,  are  not 
wanting.  Says  Wimpheling :  "Who  would  not  rejoice 
to  see  knights  and  burghers  and  peasants  faithfully 
devoted  to  the  old  law,  resisting  manfully  all  who  try 


xxvin  DESTRUCTIVE  TENDENCIES  295 

to  deprive  them  of  these  rights  and  customs  by  lying 
and  fraud  and  all  kinds  of  sophistical  tricks,  and  who 
try  to  oppress  and  exploit  them?  It  is  a  struggle 
which  seizes  the  innermost  life  of  the  people,  but  which, 
I  fear,  will  be  decided  in  favor  of  the  princely  rulers 
and  their  tools,  the  jurists,  in  view  of  the  powerlessness 
of  the  highest  imperial  power,  which  seems  to  be 
unable  to  exercise  any  influence  to  gain  order  or  to 
control,  and  in  view  of  the  many  quarrels  waging  in  the 
Empire.  The  influence  of  the  jurists  is  therefore  the 
more  pernicious,  as  they  are  themselves  eager  for  money 
and  gain,  and  excuse  and  promote  this  greed  in  the  great 
merchants  and  other  extortioners  of  the  people.  They 
are  studious  to  make  themselves  useful  to  the  tyrannical 
power  of  the  princes,  in  giving  them  advice  how  to 
neglect  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  inhabitants  and 
how  to  enrich  themselves  by  ever  new  taxation.  Far 
more  powerful  than  in  the  courts  of  justice,  they  are 
in  the  councils  of  the  princes,  where  they  have  been 
secretly  at  work  for  a  long  time,  changing  and  confus- 
ing everything  that  has  been  instituted  by  the  wisdom 
of  our  ancestors  and  existed  rightfully.  According  to 
the  damnable  teaching  of  the  new  jurists,  the  prince 
is  to  be  everything  in  the  country,  but  the  people 
nothing.  The  people  have  nothing  to  do  but  obey  and 
pay  taxes  and  perform  services,  and  moreover  to  obey 
not  only  the  prince,  but  also  his  officials,  who  begin  to 
appear  as  the  real  masters  of  the  state,  and  know  how 
to  shape  affairs  so  that  the  princes  rule  as  little  as 
possible." 

It  is  not  necessary  to  add  anything  to  this  contem- 
poraneous record  in  order  to  show  the  effect  of  the 
adoption  of  the  Roman  law,  as  Wimpheling  feared  it 
would  be,  on  the  position  of  the  princes.  This  power 


296  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

was  still  more  increased  by  the  Protestant  Church 
organization,  which  made  every  prince  the  head  of  the 
Church  in  his  state,  and  made  the  people  of  every  state 
a  church  for  itself.  This  religious  authority  was  used 
to  strengthen  the  political  power,  and  the  "pure  unadul- 
terated teachings  of  the  Bible"  were  used  to  fortify 
despotism.  It  has  been  justly  said  that  in  those  times 
the  child  did  not  belong  as  closely  to  the  parents  as  to 
the  state.  How  the  example  of  the  Protestant  princes 
influenced  their  Catholic  brethren,  wherever  they  found 
it  to  their  advantage,  has  been  shown  above. 

The  nobility  was  benefited  by  the  new  law  nearly  as 
much  as  the  princes.  Many  noblemen,  however,  who 
had  not  been  directly  subdued  by  the  princes  found  it 
to  their  advantage  to  enter  their  service,  and  soon  began 
to  hold  the  best  offices. 

In  their  decadence  the  cities  in  the  territories  of  a 
prince  lost  one  liberty  after  the  other,  and  it  was  only 
the  advantages  derived  from  commerce  and  industry 
that  saved  their  citizens  from  the  fate  of  the  peasants. 

The  increased  sense  of  power,  as  well  as  foreign 
example,  caused  a  great  display  of  luxury  in  many  of 
the  princely  courts,  and  brought  with  them  increased 
expenses,  which  frequently  exceeded  the  financial 
resources.  Public  loans  had  become  common  through 
the  need,  in  the  first  place,  of  money  to  pay  the  mer- 
cenaries who  had  succeeded  the  chivalric  army  of 
feudalism;  they  became  more  so  when  the  "standing 
army"  became  customary.  Taxation,  direct  and  in- 
direct, was  raised  to  its  utmost  limit.  The  supersti- 
tion of  the  times  made  the  alchemist  a  regular  institu- 
tion of  the  princely  household.  The  participation  of 
the  princes  in  business  enterprises  and  the  creation  of 
trade  monopolies  have  been  mentioned  in  another 


xxvin  DESTRUCTIVE  TENDENCIES  297 

connection.  But  all  these  means  could  not  prevent  a 
continuous  increase  of  indebtedness,  which  is,  perhaps, 
more  than  any  other  cause,  responsible  for  the  accept- 
ance of  money  from  the  enemies  of  the  Fatherland. 
From  the  courts  the  foreign  influence  spread  all  over 
the  country;  while  at  first  Italian  and  Spanish  influ- 
ences prevailed,  soon  the  French  began  more  and  more 
to  gain  ground. 

The  discontent  of  the  poorer  classes  in  the  cities  had 
grown  to  a  dangerous  extent  under  the  conditions 
described  in  these  pages,  but  the  fate  of  the  peasants 
was  a  great  deal  worse.  The  jurist  taught  that  the 
peasants  held  the  position  of  the  Roman  coloni. 
It  became  a  principle  that  anything  was  legal  that 
could  be  supported  by  any  passage  in  the  Corpus 
Juris.  "The  very  fact,"  taught  E.  Lothmann,  "that 
one  is  a  peasant  is  sufficient  to  prove  his  serfdom." 
The  nobility  everywhere  added  large  farms  to  then* 
estates,  and  degraded  their  formerly  wealthy  owners 
to  serfs,  who  in  some  instances  were  compelled  to  take 
the  place  of  the  horses  in  drawing  ploughs  and  carts. 
The  unfortunate  ending  of  the  Peasants'  War  made 
their  fate  more  miserable  than  ever,  and,  indeed,  en- 
tirely hopeless.  Serfdom  was  legally  recognized  for  the 
whole  Empire  in  1555.  It  is  easily  seen  how  wrong  it  is 
to  call  all  this  feudalism,  when  it  is  the  outcome,  not  of 
the  feudal  system,  but  of  the  Roman  law.  The  state  of 
the  peasants  was,  in  many  parts  of  Germany  at  the  time, 
the  same  as  that  of  the  French  peasant  before  the  Great 
Revolution,  and  a  description  of  his  sufferings,  espe- 
cially in  regard  to  hunting  and  poaching,  would  be  but 
a  counterpart  to  this  well-known  chapter  of  history. 

Thus  we  find  the  lower  classes  of  the  people  in  a 
state  of  degradation;  far  above  them  we  find  the 


298      HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION    CHAP,  xxvin 

educated  classes  with  a  pedantic  Latinistic  learning  of 
a  theological  or  legal  turn ;  still  higher,  greatly  raised  in 
their  social  position  by  their  increase  in  power,  we  find 
the  nobility  and  the  princes;  their  education  under 
foreign  influence,  imitated  by  the  better  middle  class, 
helped  to  remove  them  still  farther  from  the  great 
masses  of  the  people. 

Not  all  these  tendencies  of  decay  may  have  appeared 
on  the  surface  as  plainly  as  this  description  necessarily 
had  to  represent  them;  they  were  at  work  none  the 
less,  and  all  hope  of  recovery,  which  might  not  have  been 
unwarranted,  was  cut  off  when  they  found  their  climax 
in  the  calamity  of  the  Great  War.  Within  thirty  years 
the  cultural  work  of  fifteen  hundred  centuries  or  more 
appears  to  be  nearly  wiped  out.  The  foreigner  might 
appropriate  German  territory  without  fear  of  punish- 
ment ;  the  Netherlands  and  Switzerland  were  irrep- 
arably lost,  and  the  former  were  removed  from  the 
common  civilization.  The  natural  strength  of  the 
German  people  was  destroyed ;  instead  of  seventeen 
millions  of  proud  and  prosperous  citizens,  we  find  four 
millions  of  servile  beggars. 


CHAPTER    XXIX 

OF   THE    GKEAT  WAR 

1618-1648 

LET  the  reader  for  a  moment  imagine  the  picture  of  a 
man  who  at  the  time  of  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  (1648) 
had  reached  the  age  of  thirty  to  thirty-five  years.  Such 
a  man  —  and  there  were  many  like  him  —  may  per- 
haps never  have  seen  a  well-cultivated  field  with  the 
golden  waves  of  ripening  grain;  never  a  town  in  the 
peaceful  activity  of  its  citizens !  When  a  child,  he 
may  have  been  torn  from  his  crib  or  his  miserable 
bundle  of  straw  out  into  the  unfriendly  night,  to  flee 
through  the  dark  and  cold  to  a  hiding-place  in  the  wilder- 
ness of  the  forest.  Mother  and  father,  brother  and 
sister,  might  have  been  tormented  and  slain  before  his 
eyes.  Two  or  three  times  the  rough  soldiers  may  have 
broken  into  the  house  of  his  parents  in  order  to  plunder, 
to  ravish,  to  commit  infamous,  unspeakable,  unheard- 
of  cruelties.  It  is  a  sad  fact  that  deeds  of  terrible, 
brutal  cruelty  are  not  strange  to  our  own  days  —  but 
imagine  the  most  horrible  deed  of  human  brutality 
to  be  found  in  modern  books  or  newspapers  added  to 
plague,  conflagration,  and  famine,  and  repeated  in  a 
great  many  places,  day  after  day,  for  thirty  years,  as 
long  as  there  were  any  human  beings  left,  —  so  that 
not  even  the  most  remote,  apparently  peaceful  corner 
was  safe  from  being  suddenly  drawn  into  the  midst  of 

299 


300  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

the  turmoil  of  war  —  and  you  will  have  an  idea  of  that 
most  execrable  period  of  German  history,  called  "the 
Thirty  Years'  War."  It  seems  like  mockery  to  talk 
of  a  history  of  German  civilization  during  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  the  Great  War ;  and  he  must  be  destitute  of 
human  feeling,  indeed,  who,  in  view  of  the  possibility 
of  the  repetition  of  these  infamous  events,  will  not  do 
all  he  can  to  make  the  civilized  world  regard  the  insti- 
gation of  war  as  a  crime  a  hundred  times  worse  than 
any  common  murder. 

To-day,  after  two  centuries  and  a  half  have  passed 
away,  German  children  in  the  north  and  south  of  the 
Fatherland,  listen  with  eyes  wide  open  and  full  of 
terror,  to  the  stories,  told  by  their  grandmothers  or 
mothers,  of  the  Swedish  times,  of  the  Kroats  and 
Pandures,  as  they  in  turn  heard  them  from  their 
mothers.  The  Seven  Years'  War  and  the  Napoleonic 
Wars,  Turenne  and  Melac,  have  left  their  traces,  still 
unforgotten,  but  all  this  is  overshadowed  by  those 
older  memories,  not  delivered  through  books,  but  by 
word  of  mouth,  from  generation  to  generation ;  so  deep 
was  the  wound  struck  in  the  heart  of  the  German 
people.  Besides,  those  later  great  wars,  after  all  the 
hardships,  at  least  ended  in  a  strengthening  of  national 
life,  and  German  blood  had  not  been  shed  in  vain :  the 
Thirty  Years'  War  had  no  other  result  than  incon- 
ceivable misery. 

There  is  not  one  modern  historian  bold  enough  to 
describe  in  print  the  whole  extent  of  the  wretchedness 
which  stares  at  us  from  contemporary  accounts,  nor 
has  it  been  completely  ascertained  by  documents  and 
statistics  how  many  really  perished  at  the  time,  and 
what  were  the  material  losses,  which  have  not  all  been 
repaired  even  yet.  In  order  not  to  be  accused  of 


xxix  OF  THE  GREAT  WAR  301 

exaggeration,  I  shall  give  a  few  facts,  which,  horrible 
as  they  are,  do  not  tell  the  worst. 

While  in  the  beginning  of  the  war  greed,  avarice, 
and  brutality  were  not  worse  than  might  have  been 
expected  of  the  period,  we  soon  find  an  ever  wilder  lust 
for  blood  and  a  mad  desire  to  destroy.  Those  elabo- 
rate cruelties  by  which  the  people  were  at  first  tormented 
to  force  a  confession  of  where  money  and  valuables  were 
hidden  were  increased  when  the  soldier  had  learned  to 
enjoy  the  sufferings  of  his  victims,  and  became  worse 
when,  after  food  had  become  scarce,  he  had  begun  to  be 
tormented  by  his  own  hunger,  when  so  many  men  and 
cattle  had  been  slain  that  tilling  and  sowing  were  im- 
possible in  many  places.  In  all  probability  the  war 
would  have  continued  longer,  had  not  the  feeding  of 
the  armies  in  the  devastated  country  become  an  abso- 
lute impossibility.  During  the  time  when  Germans  were 
still  fighting  with  each  other,  and  Gustavus  Adolphus 
was  keeping  his  Swedes  in  the  fear  of  God  under  strict 
discipline,  we  do  still  find  occasional  traces  of  human 
feeling,  although  the  Imperial  army  from  the  start  let 
loose  its  foreign  mercenaries,  especially  Kroats  and 
Spaniards,  on  the  Protestant  countries,  and  no  mercy 
was  shown  to  the  " heretics"  ;  indeed,  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Emperor  the  whole  war  was  but  a  persecution  of  the 
heretics  on  a  large  scale.  During  the  last  ten  years  of 
the  war,  however,  when  the  Protestant  powers  of 
Germany  had  withdrawn,  and  France  had  openly 
taken  part  in  the  war  instead,  there  were  really  none  but 
foreigners  fighting  on  German  soil,  ravaging  and  kill- 
ing the  defenceless.  For  the  inhabitants  there  was  no 
longer  any  difference  between  friendly  and  hostile 
armies.  While  the  Swede  plundered  their  hut  one  day, 
the  Kroat  tried  to  take  their  last  piece  of  bread  the 


302  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

next,  and  they  might  be  glad  if  a  Spanish  mercenary 
did  not  cut  off  their  noses  and  ears  on  the  third.  Fre- 
quently the  marauding  soldiers  followed  each  other  on 
the  same  day.  Three  times  a  day  many  a  German 
had  to  submit  to  the  so-called  Schwedentrunk,  the 
Swedes'  drink,  of  which  the  water  cure  of  Philippine 
fame  was  only  a  weak  and  tame  imitation.  But 
finally  there  was  nothing  left  to  steal,  even  the  few 
crumbs  of  grain  which  had  been  hidden  in  the  graves 
within  the  skulls  of  the  buried  had  been  discovered 
and  taken  away  by  the  soldiers.  Cannibalism  was 
not  uncommon  and  is  reported  from  Frankfort-on-the- 
Main  and  other  cities.  When  at  the  siege  of  Nord- 
lingen  the  Imperialists  had  taken  a  tower,  the  burghers 
themselves  set  fire  to  it  and  burned  it  with  everybody 
inside.  The  women  took  home  the  half-charred  pieces 
from  the  bodies  as  food  for  then*  famished  children. 
It  is  even  said  that  children  were  slaughtered  outright 
to  supply  food  for  their  elders.  This  is  more  than 
horrible,  but  how  can  one  approach  the  shocking  truth 
without  giving  at  least  a  few  facts  ?  —  this  war  is  a 
case  in  which  the  most  powerful  imagination  cannot 
equal  the  reality.  Thorn-bushes,  planted  by  the  peas- 
ants during  the  war,  grew  into  an  impenetrable  hedge 
where  many  of  them  could  escape  the  eyes  of  the  pass- 
ing bands  for  weeks.  Adult  men  and  women  born  after 
1615  did  not  know  any  other  conditions  at  all. 

At  last  the  war  ended  from  exhaustion. 

What  was  left? 

And  what  must  have  become  of  the  character  of  the 
people,  after  it  had  gone  through  such  experiences  for 
a  whole  generation?  The  psychologist  will  find  here 
the  explanation  of  many  a  weakness  in  the  German 
character  which,  present  perhaps  in  the  germ,  was 


xxix  OF  THE  GREAT  WAR  303 

fully  developed  at  that  time;  many  a  good  impulse 
had  been  changed  to  its  opposite  vice.  The  power  of 
will  was  broken,  the  heart  deadened,  the  interest  for 
everything  higher,  everything  ideal,  extinguished.  The 
generation  that  had  grown  up  in  constant  fear  for  their 
lives,  dodging  behind  trees  and  bushes,  had  nobody 
to  teach  them  the  courage  and  manliness  which  had 
been  the  glory  of  their  ancestors.  Instead,  they  pos- 
sessed the  vices  of  the  weak,  servility,  and  a  narrow  view 
of  things,  qualities  unhappily  fostered  by  the  next 
period  and  only  gradually  disappearing  since  the  last 
century,  a  constant  source  of  disgust  and  despair  for 
liberty-loving  patriots.  Just  imagine  what  would  be 
the  effect  on  our  grandchildren  if  almost  all  people  over 
thirty  years  of  age  should  be  killed  and  they  be  de- 
prived of  all  the  influences  of  education  and  moral 
elevation  they  now  enjoy  ! 

At  the  end  of  the  war  the  population  of  Germany 
had  fallen  off  from  seventeen  to  four  millions,  —  an 
extreme  estimate  which  may  or  may  not  be  correct. 
Flourishing  cities  and  innumerable  villages  had  disap- 
peared so  completely  from  the  face  of  the  earth  that 
at  the  end  of  the  war  the  wilderness  had  already  re- 
conquered the  place  whereon  they  stood.  One  Swedish 
general,  Pfuel,  alone  boasted  of  having  burned  eight 
hundred  villages  in  Bohemia.  When  peace  came, 
Berlin  had  three  hundred  citizens  left.  Augsburg  at  the 
beginning  of  a  siege  had  eighty  thousand  inhabitants ; 
after  eight  months  the  conquerors  found  ten  thousand 
people  at  the  point  of  death  from  disease  and  starva- 
tion. Similar  accounts  are  given  of  all  parts  of  Ger- 
many. The  schools  and  workshops  were  empty, 
the  churches  destroyed.  In  the  sixth  year  of  the  war 
Heidelberg  had  but  two  students. 


304  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

It  has  been  said  already  that  the  fields  could  not  be 
cultivated  for  want  of  cattle  and  seed.  It  has  been  com- 
puted that  the  number  of  horses  decreased  eighty  per 
cent,  that  of  cattle  seventy-five  per  cent.  The  statement 
has  been  made  that  at  the  end  of  the  war  not  a  single 
sheep  was  found  in  all  Germany,  and  I  have  found  no 
reports  which  discredit  this.  This  means  that  the  great 
production  of  wool  and  the  textile  industry,  the  most  im- 
portant in  Germany  for  centuries,  had  been  completely 
stamped  out.  Spanish  sheep,  which  have  since  been 
bred  in  Germany,  produce  a  wool  wholly  dissimilar,  and 
according  to  experts  inferior  in  quality  to  the  former. 

But  enough !  It  is  true  that  Germany  with  the  ap- 
parent inexhaustible  vital  energy  of  its  people  has 
recovered  from  these  disasters,  as  is  certified  by  over 
ninety  million  descendants  of  those  survivors  of  the  war, 
sixty-five  millions  of  whom  live  in  the  German  Empire. 
But  many  a  forest  is  being  cleared  to-day,  many  a  swamp 
drained  that  had  been  won  for  culture  once  before  in 
mediaeval  times.  At  every  step  we  meet  traces  of  the 
Great  War  in  Germany  to-day,  and  the  German  char- 
acter still  bears  its  imprint.  In  this  regard,  also,  how- 
ever, the  Germans  may  hope  for  final  recovery,  since 
the  new  Empire  has  given  them  almost  their  ancient 
position  among  the  nations  of  the  world.  It  is  not  to 
be  expected  that  four  decades  could  restore  to  full  vigor 
what  has  lain  torpid  for  over  two  centuries.  But  if  we 
look  back  to  the  Germans  who  celebrated  the  Peace 
Festival  in  1650, —  they  had  waited  for  two  years  to 
be  convinced  that  the  war  was  really  over, —  we  may 
well  wonder  with  Gustav  Freytag,  "how,  after  such 
losses  and  such  corruption  of  the  survivors,  a  German 
people  has  remained  in  existence,  a  people  which  was 
able  after  the  conclusion  of  the  peace  to  till  the  soil, 


xxix  OF  THE   GREAT  WAR  305 

to  pay  taxes,  and,  after  miserably  dragging  along  for 
a  hundred  years,  to  bring  forth  new  energy  and  en- 
thusiasm, and  a  new  life  in  the  arts  and  sciences."  The 
deeper  reason  is,  of  course,  to  be  found  in  the  people's 
own  vitality  and  in  their  love  for  their  home. 

Externally,  the  connection  with  the  former  culture 
was  accomplished  principally  by  three  classes  of  the 
population  :  the  clergy,  the  princes,  and  the  scholars. 

Of  that  vitality,  however,  and  of  the  fact  that  manly 
virtue  and  trust  in  a  national  future  had  not  entirely 
died  out  even  at  the  close  of  the  war,  when  in  Minister 
and  Osnabriick  the  foreign  ambassadors  seemed  on  the 
point  of  dividing  Germany  between  them,  we  have  evi- 
dence in  the  form  of  a  remarkable  pamphlet,  published 
anonymously  in  1647,  one  year  before  the  conclusion 
of  the  peace.  Its  title  is  "  Exhortation  to  the  Ger- 
mans" ;  a  few  sentences  translated  from  it  follow:  — 

"With  a  loud  voice  the  French  and  Swedes  boast  of 
having  subdued  Germany,  and  the  flags,  torn  away  from 
us  by  our  own  hands,  are  shown  in  Paris  and  Stockholm. 
Thus,  foolish  servants  of  foreign  fame,  we  destroy  our  own 
glory  and  virtue  by  our  own  blood.  Kings  who  were 
used  to  obey  the  call  of  the  Emperor,  and  were  obliged 
to  give  an  account  of  themselves  before  him,  sit  in  court, 
more  powerful  than  the  Emperor,  and  have  become  our 
masters  by  our  own  discord.  They  call  and  we  appear ; 
they  speak  and  we  listen  to  then*  words,  as  if  they  were 
oracles ;  they  promise  and  we  trust  their  assurances,  as 
if  they  were  divine ;  they  threaten  and  we  tremble  like 
serfs.  .  .  .  As  with  the  kisses  of  Judas  those  pretended 
liberators  approach  us.  ...  From  the  Rhine,  from  the 
North  and  the  Baltic  seas,  they  look  out  from  their 
watch-towers  for  every  opportunity  and  conflict  that 
might  come  up  or  is  brought  about  by  themselves ;  and, 


306       HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION      CHAP,  xxix 

like  the  Romans  in  Greece,  they  are  first  friendly  ad- 
visers, than  arbiters,  finally  masters.  Oh,  Germany, 
awake,  think  what  thou  art ;  arise  from  this  deadly  fight. 
The  Empire  can  be  regenerated  by  the  Empire,  Ger- 
many by  Germany  alone,  and  come  forth  by  the  sun  of 
divine  grace  like  the  phenix  out  of  the  ashes  of  her  own 
life.  Not  Catholics  or  non-Catholics,  not  Romish  or 
Lutheran,  must  stand  in  our  way;  but  as  members 
of  one  body,  of  one  state,  as  brethren,  all  Germans  must 
embrace  each  other  in  love,  and  with  all  faculties  and 
virtues  strive  heroically  towards  the  great  end.  To 
protect  the  fatherland,  to  defend,  to  preserve  it,  this 
is  the  duty  of  each  and  all.  But  to  limp  on  either  side, 
to  look  towards  Paris  now,  towards  Stockholm  now,  to 
give  away  territories  and  to  be  willing  to  buy  peace  — 
by  God  !  this  never  is  nor  has  been  German  !  " 

We  know  that  this  patriotic  appeal  had  no  effect, 
indeed,  could  not  have  any ;  the  nation  was  too  feeble. 


BOOK  THE  FOURTH 
REGENERATION 


CHAPTER  XXX 

SURVIVALS    OP    CULTURE 

Development  of  German  Music 

OF  the  three  elements  upon  which  we  have  said  that 
the  continuation  of  national  life  was  dependent,  the 
clergy,  the  scholars,  and  the  princes,  the  first,  the  parsons 
of  the  village  and  city  parishes,  both  Protestant  and 
Catholic,  had  shared  all  the  sufferings  of  the  people 
throughout  the  whole  war;  they  and  their  churches 
had,  as  a  rule,  to  stand  the  first  and  the  most  tenacious 
attacks.  The  misery  and  persecutions  which  robbed  the 
people  of  their  self-reliance  by  rending  all  social  ties  and 
by  destroying  the  very  foundations  of  morality  meant 
rather  a  strengthening  of  spirituality  to  the  clergy,  who 
had  preserved  the  spark  of  true  religion  throughout  the 
theological  quibbles  of  the  past  century,  and  who  still 
felt  the  fresh  impulses  of  the  Reformation ;  they  suf- 
fered for  their  faith  and  thus  had  an  opportunity  to 
prove  to  their  parishioners  that  they  were  true  dis- 
ciples of  the  Master  who  had  called  to  Him  all  the 
wretched  and  oppressed.  Hence  we  must  admit  that, 
truly  as  the  principal  blame  for  that  great  calamity  rests 
on  the  intolerance  of  the  churches,  yet  it  is  to  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Christian  religion,  to  the  lower  clergy, 
that  we  owe  the  saving  of  the  people  from  total  moral 
wreck. 

As  to  the  scholars,  the  exclusive  nature  of  the  new 
science  enabled  it  quietly  to  continue  its  secluded  life. 

309 


310  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

In  the  meantime,  too,  the  other  nations  had  remained 
the  guardians  of  former  achievements  and  the  successful 
promoters  of  the  sciences. 

From  Kepler,  the  astronomer,  whose  principal  works 
were  published  during  the  war,  to  Leibnitz,  no  great 
German  name  can  be  mentioned  among  the  upholders 
of  the  intellectual  life  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
Theologians  and  the  mystics,  such  as  Jacob  Boehm, 
were  widely  read  in  the  times  of  the  war ;  and  even  the 
book  usually  mentioned  at  the  head  of  modern  German 
literature,  the  German  poetry  of  Martin  Opitz,  was  pub- 
lished during  the  war.  The  first  opera  was  presented  in 
Germany  in  1627  (in  Hamburg). 

The  part  taken  by  the  princes  in  the  regeneration  of 
German  national  strength,  which  with  most  of  them, 
indeed,  meant  only  the  strength  to  pay  taxes,  will  be 
spoken  of  farther  on. 

There  was  one  field,  however,  in  which  the  German 
spirit,  at  the  very  time  it  was  stirred  to  its  utmost  depths 
by  these  terrible  events,  produced  some  blossoms  of 
great  beauty;  I  refer  to  the  German  church  songs 
which,  under  the  influence  of  the  Volkslied,  had  been 
brought  to  their  perfection  by  Luther.  It  was  during 
the  Thirty  Years'  War  that  Paul  Gerhard  sang  his 
finest  songs,  while  at  the  same  time  on  the  banks  of  the 
Mosel  the  religious  soul  of  Friedrich  von  Spee,  the 
Jesuit,  was  finding  expression  in  the  most  beautiful 
compositions,  which  were  published  somewhat  later 
under  the  name  of  Trutznachtigall  (Challenge  to  the 
Nightingale).  Many  a  defiant  warrior's  song  and  Volks- 
lied were  heard  during  the  war,  but  everywhere  the 
return  of  peace  was  celebrated  in  grateful  hymns.  It 
was  in  music  that  the  German  genius  gave  renewed  evi- 
dence of  vigor  and  individuality. 


xxx  SURVIVALS  OF  CULTURE  311 

The  interest  and  importance  attached  to  music  in 
German  life  would  make  this  narrative  of  German  civ- 
ilization very  incomplete  without  an  account  of  this  art ; 
here  Germany  has  won  her  least  contested  laurels,  and 
here  her  character  manifests  itself,  perhaps,  most  directly. 

Leaving  aside  the  lurer,  which  indicate  the  use 
of  musical  instruments  by  the  ancestral  Germanic 
people  as  far  back  as  the  year  1000  B.C.,  we  get  the 
first  accounts  of  their  musical  inclinations  from  the 
Romans.  The  latter  speak  of  their  heroic  songs  and 
war-songs,  but  what  we  gather  from  them  refers  rather 
to  the  literary  than  to  the  musical  side.  Their  battle 
songs  must  have  sounded  terrible  enough;  even  their 
popular  songs  do  not  seem  to  have  had  a  pleasing  effect 
on  the  refined  hearer.  Julian  Apostata  compares  them 

rot?  tcpoy/jLols  T(!)V  /Spa^y  ftwovrwv  opvLQwv 

"to  the  croaking  of  the  coarsely  singing  birds."  Chlod- 
owech  the  Frank,  writes  to  Theodoric  the  Great  to 
send  to  him  a  "citharceda,"  which  seems  to  show  that 
the  Ostrogoths  in  Italy  were  farther  advanced  than 
their  cousins  beyond  the  Alps.  We  may  also  refer 
to  the  report  on  Theodoric  II,  translated  in  a  former 
chapter.  Charles  the  Great  took  a  personal  interest 
in  the  fostering  of  the  Gregorian  chant,  but  Peter  the 
Langobard,  to  whom  he  intrusted  this  task,  complains  in 
disgust :  "The  gigantic  bodies  of  the  Germans  could  not 
imitate  the  sweet  tones  because  the  barbarian  wildness 
of  their  thirsty  throats  gives  forth  sounds  that  creak 
like  a  loaded  truck  rolling  over  a  corduroy  road."  But 
in  the  first  half  of  the  ninth  century  we  find  as  much- 
praised  composers  of  hymns  the  Germans  Theodulf  and 
Hrabanus  Maurus.  At  the  same  time  a  demand  for 
singers  came  to  Bavaria  from  Rome.  Since  the  efforts 


312  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

of  Charles,  the  Germanic  peoples  had  developed  the 
secular  song,  das  Lied,  to  which  the  church  tunes  gave 
rules  and  laws.  "The  Lied  is  the  simplest  form  of 
melody,  of  harmonious  motions  and  conception,  in  con- 
trast to  the  antique  Gregorian  melody,  which  gives  ex- 
pression only  to  the  graceful  moving  line  of  tones  as 
such,  in  their  upward  and  downward  movement,  to  the 
intervals  which  it  connects  in  a  sliding  way,  according 
to  their  relation  to  one  another,  to  their  juxtaposition 
without  regard  to  the  fundamental  tone.  The  German 
Lied,  by  introducing  harmonious  interpretation  into 
melody,  has  given  modern  music  its  peculiar  character 
and  form."  This  makes  apparent  that  fundamental 
principle  of  German  art,  the  emphasizing  of  the  im- 
portant substance,  entwining  and  connecting  the  parts 
in  continuous  relation  to  the  principal. 

Das  Lied  is  the  form  of  music  peculiar  to  the  Ger- 
man, it  is  the  original  form  of  German  music.  "It  is," 
says  Heinrich  Adolph  Koestlin,  on  whose  writings  the 
present  discussion  is  based,  "at  all  tunes  the  flower  and 
the  gem  of  German  musical  art,  its  landmark  and  pro- 
tecting genius  and  the  test  whether  music  has  remained 
German  or  lost  itself." 

As  with  the  antique  melody,  so  in  the  German  V oiks- 
lied,  text  and  melody  are  congruent;  the  rhythmic 
structure  of  the  text  and  that  of  the  tune  are  mutually 
dependent.  To  the  stanza  of  the  poem,  the  sound  of 
the  tune  and  the  Lied  as  a  piece  of  music  are  coordinate ; 
the  parts  of  the  melody  correspond  to  the  lines  or  the 
couplets  of  the  stanza.  But  the  law  which  controls  and 
arranges  the  grouping  of  the  parts  of  the  melody  as  well 
as  of  the  stanza,  that  is,  the  rhythmic  composition  of 
the  stanza,  is  not  the  rhythm  of  the  language,  but  the 
rhythm  of  the  emotion  which  accompanies  the  Volks- 


xxx  SURVIVALS  OF  CULTURE  313 

lied,  of  which  it  is  the  artistic  expression.  The  pop- 
ular melody,  therefore,  is,  from  the  start,  not  a  word- 
melody,  a  word-song,  but  a  musically  imbued  motion, 
not  melodiously  differentiated  speech,  but  a  purely 
musical  product.  The  fundamental  form  is  that  of 
rhythmically  measured  motion,  of  dance  and  march; 
its  fundamental  law  is  rhythm.  We  know  already  that 
the  dancing  song  formed  an  interesting  side  of  popular 
poetry.  In  this  way,  musical  composition  had  risen  to 
highly  artistic  achievements  in  the  minnesongs. 

About  the  year  1000  A.D.  we  hear  of  polyphonic 
music  in  Scotland  and  England,  and  as  the  polyphonic 
music  came  from  the  North,  it  is  perhaps  not  too  bold 
to  connect  those  ancient  lurer,  which  of  necessity  must 
have  led  to  polyphony,  with  this  progress  in  the  art 
of  singing,  which  reached  the  Netherlands  by  way  of 
Paris.  After  being  developed  in  the  Low  Countries,  it 
spread  over  Germany  and  Italy,  where  under  its  influ- 
ence the  masterworks  of  Palestrina  were  composed. 

In  Germany,  however,  after  earlier  attempts  to  have 
the  people  participate  in  the  chanting  at  church  had 
met  with  very  scant  success,  the  Reformation  made  the 
popular  song  an  essential  part  of  the  divine  service,  as 
an  act  of  the  personal  worship  on  the  part  of  the  con- 
gregation, and  there  it  found  its  further  development, 
under  the  form  of  the  liturgical  church  song,  first  as 
"motetto."  After  the  advent  of  the  Italian  music, 
especially  of  the  opera,  which  had  gained  control  in 
Germany  at  the  same  time  with  the  foreign  influences 
in  all  other  fields  of  culture,  German  music  continued 
to  exist  only  in  the  Protestant  church  songs  and  the 
Volkslied.  The  former,  however,  brought  maturity  and 
strength  to  the  musical  life  original  with  the  German 
mind.  Its  representatives  were  those  poorly  paid 


314  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

cantors  and  organists,  most  of  whom  were  at  the 
same  time  schoolmasters.  Its  home  was  the  divine 
service  of  the  Protestant  congregation.  Properly  speak- 
ing, it  was  not  in  popular  life,  but  in  the  sacred  world 
of  the  gospel,  that  this  music,  under  the  influence  of 
Luther,  found  protection  and  development.  But  this 
world  had  become  and  for  a  long  time  continued  to  be 
the  only  refuge  for  the  poor  down-trodden  German 
people,  where  it  sought  and  regained  its  better  self  and 
its  strength. 

The  new  forms  from  Italy  were  appropriated  in  full 
recognition  of  their  merits  and  were  combined  with  the 
motetto,  the  chant  in  the  higher  choir,  and  the  melodies 
of  the  congregation.  Out  of  the  recitative,  the  aria, 
and  the  arioso  with  the  polyphonous  choir  and  the 
hymn,  expressing  the  emotions  of  the  congregation,  is 
evolved  the  cantata,  which  finds  further  development 
in  the  music  of  the  Passion. 

Grown  up  in  the  atmosphere  of  German  church 
music,  matured  under  the  strict  disciplines  of  Italy 
which  gave  him  symmetry  and  grace  and  full  control  of 
the  language  of  tones,  influenced  by  the  biblical  drama 
of  Italy  and  the  English  anthem,  Haendel  at  last  found 
the  form  which  allowed  full  expression  to  his  grand  and 
broad  personality,  the  oratorio.  Thus  in  Protestant 
church  music  the  German  genius  for  the  first  time 
powerfully  unfolded  its  wings.  Twelve  years  older 
than  Opitz,  the  author  of  the  Deutsche  Poeterey,  is 
Heinrich  Schuetz,  the  great  predecessor  of  greater  fol- 
lowers. Before  Klopstock  and  Lessing,  Schiller  and 
Goethe,  were  possible,  Haendel  created  his  Messiah, 
Bach  his  Passion  of  St.  Mathew.  The  predecessor,  by 
the  way,  of  Johann  Sebastian  Bach  was  Johann  Kiihnau, 
who  was  the  first  to  compose  and  write  treatises  on 


xxx  SURVIVALS  OF  CULTURE  315 

"programme"  music.  While  Bach  represents  pure  Ger- 
man art,  Haendel  had  learnt  from  the  Italians ;  while  the 
former  is  firmly  rooted  in  his  native  soil,  the  latter  is 
cosmopolitan.  They  afford  a  beautiful  example  of  that 
union  between  a  national  and  an  international  per- 
sonality, so  often  met  with  in  the  history  of  German  art 
and  culture ;  Luther  and  Hutten,  Spener  and  Leibnitz, 
Klopstock  and  Lessing,  side  by  side.  But  none  of  them 
in  this  parallel  of  Scherer's  are  international  in  the 
sense  that  they  were  less  German.  In  this  as  hi  other 
fields  German  idealism  and  individualism  show  their 
strength  by  gladly  recognizing  anything  good  and  true  in 
other  nations,  but  assimilating  really  and  permanently 
only  what  is  congenial  to  the  German  character  and  can 
be  combined  with  it.  Thus  early  German  music  shows 
all  its  fundamental  traits,  and  in  music,  as  Koestlin 
points  out,  these  traits  find  their  purest  expression.  "In 
the  first  place  we  meet  with  a  pronounced  individualism, 
by  the  power  of  which  music  is  for  the  German  above 
all  an  expression  of  an  active  inner  life,  a  language  of 
the  mind,  a  self-communication  of  the  personality.  In 
consequence  he  demands  principally  that  music  reveal 
to  him  an  original  personality  of  inborn  peculiarity,  an 
artistic  character  which  presents  itself  in  the  musical 
composition  hi  all  truthfulness  and  faithfulness  towards 
himself,  hi  short,  he  demands  truth  and  genuineness. 
As  closely  related  to  this,  we  must  mention  that  high, 
often  severe,  idealism  which  lays  principal  stress  on  the 
spiritual,  the  poetical,  the  prophetic  side  of  musical 
art,  and,  when  the  choice  is  given  between  the  beautiful 
and  the  significant,  in  the  end  always  chooses  the  latter ; 
rather  tolerates  faults  of  form  than  lack  of  substance  and 
emptiness  of  thought ;  rather  will  stand  a  certain  musical 
secretiveness,  than  inane  'garrulity.' 


316  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

"These  are  the  great  advantages  of  German  music; 
for  the  German  it  is  not  only  a  play  of  fancy  or  a  mani- 
festation of  creative  genius,  but  the  expression  of  his 
inner  experiences  in  the  form  of  musical-artistic  creation 
that  is,  self-representation.  For  him  it  is  not  only  a 
means  of  sesthetical  enjoyment,  but  ethical  activity 
and  growth ;  '  it  must, '  as  Beethoven  says,  '  strike  fire 
from  a  man's  soul.' 

"Therefore,  German  music  is  not  devoid  of  humor ;  as 
the  cheerful  disposition,  superior  to  fate,  has  become 
a  component  of  the  character  as  the  vital  manifestation 
and  exercise  of  control  of  a  heart  at  rest  with  itself, 
sure  of  its  eternal  source  and  final  aim.  Hence  the  im- 
portance of  German  music  as  a  social,  morally  active, 
popular  force,  in  the  service  of  popular  culture  and 
popular  education  and  in  the  adjustment  of  social  con- 
trasts; a  mediator  between  different  classes  and  in- 
terests; the  High  Priestess  of  the  people,  as  it  were, 
who  lends  an  ideal  sanction  to  popular  life  and  inspires 
it  with  ideal  strength.  Illustrations  are  the  singing 
societies  and  church  choirs,  etc.,  from  the  Meistersinger 
or  the  Cantorey  Gesellschaft  (musical  societies  of  Refor- 
mation tunes)  to  the  modern  Saengerfest. 

"Close  beside  the  advantages  are  found,  indeed,  evi- 
dences of  weakness  and  one-sidedness :  individualism 
easily  produces  whimsicalness  and  pride  in  geniality, 
eccentricity  and  megalomania ;  idealism  easily  becomes 
excessive  spirituality  which  despises  the  laws  of  form ; 
the  desire  to  be  always  significant  leads  easily  to  fustian, 
clumsy  thoroughness  and  thorough  clumsiness.  But  one 
quality  is  absolutely  foreign  to  German  musical  art ;  that 
is  frivolousness  :  wherever  it  is  heard  or  music  is  forced 
into  its  service,  nobody  has  a  right  to  talk  about  Ger-  . 
man  music,  even  though  it  flows  from  German  source." 


xxx  SURVIVALS  OF  CULTURE  317 

This  description  by  Koestlin  characterizes  all  German 
music,  —  and,  we  might  as  well  say,  all  German  art,  — 
especially  in  its  most  important  fields,  the  Lied,  sym- 
phony and  dramatic  music.  But  German  music  at- 
tained its  greatest  heights  in  the  second  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century  in  Catholic  Germany,  which,  other- 
wise, had  taken  so  little  part  in  German  culture,  as 
if  the  enslaved  mind  which  in  those  parts  strove  so 
powerfully  but  unsuccessfully  for  emancipation  found 
only  in  this  art  a  chance  to  express  itself.  While  Prot- 
estant Germany  boasted  of  Lessing,  Herder,  Kant, 
Goethe,  Schiller,  there  Haydn,  Mozart,  and  Beethoven 
began  their  reign  in  the  realms  of  music. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

THE  AGE  OF  ABSOLUTISM  AND  FRENCH  INFLUENCE 

IN  comparing  German  life  after  the  Thirty  Years' 
War  with  that  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  principal  dif- 
ference which  attracts  our  attention  is  the  change  in  the 
leading  forces  of  civilization.  All  the  education,  all 
the  interest  in  national  life,  seemed  to  be  confined  to  the 
courts  of  the  princes,  the  territorial  lords,  who  in  the 
Peace  of  Westphalia  had  at  last  obtained  full  sovereign 
power,  including  the  right  of  foreign  alliance.  That 
alliances  directed  against  the  Empire  or  the  Emperor 
were  expressly  prohibited  did  not  prevent  any  one  who 
found  it  to  his  advantage  and  felt  himself  strong  enough 
from  antagonizing  the  Emperor. 

It  would  be  wrong,  nevertheless,  to  attribute  the 
ascendency  of  absolutism  as  such  to  the  disastrous 
war.  The  same  tendency  was  found  all  over  Europe 
long  before,  coming  gradually  after  the  decay  of  feu- 
dalism. In  Germany  the  change  in  the  economical 
system,  the  increase  of  taxation  and  other  burdens, 
the  strengthening  of  the  territorial  princes  with  their 
staff  of  paid  officials  and  other  causes,  destroyed  the 
last  elements  of  autonomy,  remnants  of  which  had  been 
left  even  to  the  unfree  peasant,  who  within  his  manorial 
establishment  had  taken  part  in  the  jurisdiction  over 
his  fellow-serfs.  The  Roman  law  changed  this;  and 
also  in  the  cities  that  were  under  territorial  government, 

318 


CHAP,  xxxi    ABSOLUTISM  AND  FRENCH  INFLUENCE   319 

the  burgher  no  longer  had  a  voice  in  the  different  func- 
tions of  administration. 

The  code  of  absolutism,  both  domestic  and  foreign, 
was  the  Principe  of  Machiavelli,  the  teacher  of  diplo- 
mats to  the  present  day.  Absolutism,  introduced 
to  the  Occident  by  Emperor  Frederick  II,  had  found 
its  full  development  in  Spain  through  Cardinal  Xime- 
nez,  the  powerful  regent  of  Isabella  the  Catholic. 
Although  Charles  V  dispensed  with  the  services  of  this 
much-hated  minister,  he  gladly  maintained  his  system, 
and  it  broke  his  heart  to  find  himself  defeated  in  Ger- 
many just  when  he  was  ready  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of 
his  policy.  History  generally  names  as  the  principal 
representative  of  absolutism  Louis  XIV  of  France, 
characterized  by  the  famous  Uetat  c'est  mvi,  a  maxim 
which,  however,  he  was  not  the  first  to  proclaim.  The 
principles  of  absolutism  are  set  forth  in  a  document 
which  goes  by  the  name  of  "  Instruction  of  Louis  XIV 
for  the  Dauphin  "  :  "  My  first  step  was  to  make  my  will 
supreme;  everything  to  be  found  in  our  wide  states, 
all  the  money  in  public  treasuries  as  well  as  in  circulation 
belongs  to  us.  You,  the  Dauphin,  must  be  convinced 
that  the  kings,  as  good  patriarchs,  have  the  absolute 
disposal  of  all  property,  whether  it  belongs  to  clergymen 
or  laymen.  The  life  of  their  subjects  belongs  to  the 
princes;  they  must  try  to  preserve  it  as  their  (the 
princes')  property.  .  .  .  We  are  the  representatives 
of  God.  Nobody  has  a  right  to  criticise  our  actions. 
Whoever  is  born  as  a  subject  must  obey  without  ask- 
ing." These  principles  were  sustained  by  the  Sorbonne 
in  1709,  when  a  decision  was  given  that  all  possessions 
of  the  subjects  were  the  property  of  the  king,  and  in 
appropriating  them  he  did  nothing  but  take  back  what 
was  his  already.  The  introduction  of  these  principles 


320  HISTORY  OP  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

into  England  was  resisted  in  two  successful  revolutions 
at  the  cost  of  a  royal  life. 

The  ascendency  of  absolutism  had  several  causes, 
one  or  the  other  of  which  is  placed  in  the  foreground 
according  to  the  point  of  view  of  the  historian.  The 
emphasis  of  personality,  so  characteristic  of  the  Ren- 
aissance period,  is  without  doubt  one  of  the  sources 
which  must  be  taken  into  consideration,  especially  as 
it  took  hold  of  the  leading  classes.  We  may  also  point 
out  that  the  decay  of  the  imperial  as  well  as  papal 
power  must  of  necessity  have  enhanced  the  position 
of  the  other  sovereigns,  and  given  them  all  the  rights 
which  Roman  law  conceded  to  the  monarch. 

But  these  and  other  reasons  alone  could  not  have 
given  the  princes  such  absolute  power,  if  the  foundation 
of  the  feudal  system  had  not  been  destroyed  and 
thereby  its  continuation  made  impossible.  Feudalism 
was  based  on  the  duty  of  military  service ;  it  had  de- 
veloped, as  we  have  seen,  out  of  the  old  conception  of 
the  freeman  as  the  warrior.  This  duty  had  then  been 
transferred  to  the  vassals  and  had  led  to  the  institu- 
tion of  chivalry.  The  increase  in  the  weight  of  armor 
and  the  invention  of  gunpowder  had  ended  the  military 
value  of  knighthood ;  in  the  meantime  the  people  had 
become  used  to  peaceful  pursuits,  and  the  place  of  the 
citizen-soldier  had  been  taken  by  mercenaries.  Soon 
the  princes  saw  what  obedient  instruments  of  powe 
these  armies  of  mercenaries  —  a  word  etymologically 
equivalent  to  soldier  —  could  be  in  their  hands,  and 
this  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  standing  army.  This 
institution  had  first  been  used  to  great  advantage  by 
the  Turks  in  their  wars  with  the  Christians,  and  later 
by  the  French  under  Charles  VII.  For  a  long  time 
the  Swiss  had  furnished  the  bulk  of  hired  soldiers,  whose 


xxxi        ABSOLUTISM  AND  FRENCH  INFLUENCE          321 

place  was  taken  in  Germany  by  the  Landsknechte, 
bodies  of  men  whose  name  indicates  then*  national  ori- 
gin. These  troops  or  bands  had  then*  own  organiza- 
tion and  laws,  and  form  an  interesting  side  of  the  many- 
colored  life  of  the  transition  period.  Such  bodies  of 
mercenaries  hired  out  to  anybody  who  was  willing  to 
pay  them,  and  in  times  of  peace  were  a  constant  element 
of  disturbance.  Many  a  time  they  waged  their  own 
small  wars,  or  became  common  highwaymen.  Later 
the  forming  of  regiments  and  armies  became,  so  to 
speak,  a  financial  enterprise;  a  colonel  received  a  cer- 
tain amount  for  which  he  furnished  a  regiment,  and  all 
the  money  for  the  maintenance  and  equipment  of  the 
soldiers  went  through  his  hands,  and  most  of  it  stayed 
there,  —  a  system  of  financial  management  the  disas- 
trous results  of  which  are  illustrated  by  the  modern 
Russian  army.  The  most  famous  example  of  such  a 
military  contractor  is  Wallenstein.  These  armies,  as 
private  enterprises,  had,  of  course,  great  disadvantages, 
and  contained,  as  Wallenstein's  career  showed,  possi- 
bilities of  great  abuse  of  power  on  the  part  of  ambitious 
leaders.  After  the  Great  War,  the  standing  army  be- 
came the  rule,  and  was  considered  indispensable  to 
princely  splendor,  no  matter  how  small  the  principality 
was.  Even  if  the  monarch  and  his  court  did  not  in- 
dulge in  any  undue  luxury,  the  maintenance  of  the 
"army"  usually  overburdened  the  treasury.  It  was 
the  cause  of  a  great  increase  in  public  loans,  —  and  so 
indirectly  of  a  greater  development  of  banking, — and 
it  was  originally  in  order  to  make  the  army  pay  for 
itself  that  parts  of  it  were  hired  out  by  some  princes. 
The  recruiting  office  played  an  important  part  in  Ger^ 
many  for  a  long  time,  representing,  on  the  whole,  the 
same  system  we  have  in  the  United  States  to-day. 


322  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

As  the  freemen  had  forgotten  the  use  of  arms,  and 
even  the  cities  had  abandoned  the  militia  for  an  army 
of  mercenaries,  these  standing  armies  became  the 
protection  of  the  princes  and  the  means  of  securing 
their  absolute  power  over  an  unarmed  people.  The 
kings  of  Spain  and  France  had  succeeded  in  subduing 
their  great  vassals,  and  in  making  them  their  principal 
officials,  but  the  German  Emperor,  the  legal  heir  to 
the  absolute  monarchy  of  the  Roman  Empire,  was  not 
able  to  benefit  by  the  new  conditions.  The  great  vas- 
sals in  Germany  had  become  sovereigns  themselves, 
and  had  their  sovereignty  acknowledged  when  Riche- 
lieu and  Mazarin,  two  other  cardinals  worthy  of  their 
Spanish  predecessor,  finally  established  absolutism. 
As  in  many  other  things  France  furnished  the  model, 
only  instead  of  one  Louis  XIV  Germany  had  about 
four  hundred  imitators  of  the  roi  soleil,  and  four  hun- 
dred courts  in  imitation  of  that  at  Versailles.  It  was 
the  height  of  a  movement  that  had  begun  long  before. 
The  Estates,  which  might  have  led  to  a  representative 
government,  lost  their  power,  and  only  in  a  few  princi- 
palities continued  a  shadow-like  existence.  The  con- 
trol by  the  Empire  was  only  a  nominal  one.  The 
Emperor  practically  had  no  power  left  outside  of  his 
family  possessions,  although  the  title  preserved  some 
of  its  old  dignity  which  secured  to  the  bearer  the 
precedence  over  all  other  potentates  of  Europe,  while 
historical  glamour  was  just  strong  enough  to  continue 
Germany  as  a  geographical  conception. 

The  Reichstag,  which  the  peace  treaty  had  finally 
constituted,  as  composed  of  the  three  colleges  of 
the  princes,  the  nobility,  and  the  cities,  now  became 
a  permanent  body  in  which  the  states  were  represented 
by  delegates  or  envoys.  They  spent  their  time  in 


xxxi        ABSOLUTISM  AND  FRENCH  INFLUENCE          323 

endless  discussions  of  trifles.  Later  in  Wetzlar  there 
was  an  imperial  court  of  justice,  the  Reichskammer- 
gericht,  but  its  procedure  was  so  cumbersome  that  a 
man's  life  was  not  long  enough  to  see  a  suit  through ; 
at  its  dissolution  in  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century  there  were  6000  cases  pending.  Besides, 
the  Prince-Electors  had  secured  exemption  from  appeal 
against  the  decisions.  Thus  the  princes  were  under 
no  restraint  whatever,  and  the  pettier  his  principality, 
the  more  the  prince  was  convinced  of  his  divine  right 
of  despotism.  The  subjects  were  his  personal  property, 
whom  he  might  sell  or  give  away  at  will.  Americans 
do  not  need  to  seek  an  illustration  for  a  later  time. 
But  long  before  the  Revolution  days  and  the  Hessians 
Frederick  William  I  of  Prussia  made  a  present  of  a 
number  of  cutlers  from  Solingen  to  Peter  the  Great. 
If  no  more  money  was  to  be  forced  out  of  the  subjects, 
by  taxes  of  every  description,  and  no  more  loans  could 
be  raised,  there  were  always  French  pensions  to  be  had 
to  pay  for  the  extravagance  of  the  German  princes, 
who  were  only  too  willing  to  sacrifice  national  interests 
and  their  own  honor  to  foreign  politics.  French  bribes, 
however,  were  not  confined  to  the  princes  only,  as 
statesmen  and  influential  scholars  accepted  money  from 
the  French  government.  The  fact  that  some  of  these 
princes  really  desired  the  welfare  of  their  people,  and 
that  later  generations  owe  them  a  great  deal,  can  hardly 
reconcile  us  to  the  brutal  tyranny  with  thich  they 
enforced  their  benevolent  measures.  No  matter  what 
was  done  by  the  monarch  or  his  government,  it  was 
all  justified  by  the  "reason  of  state,"  die  Staatsraison, 
as  the  Germans  translated  the  French  la  raison  d'etat, 
an  expression  which  was  made  to  cover  a  multitude  of 
sins. 


324  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

How  far  the  slavish  imitation  of  the  French  court 
was  pushed  can  perhaps  be  seen  best  from  the  adoption 
of  French  immorality  as  a  necessary  court  institution ; 
even  in  places  where  there  was  no  inclination  towards 
it,  the  appearance  of  frivolity  had  to  be  maintained. 
Thus  the  first  King  of  Prussia,  Frederick  I,  who  was 
rather  vain,  felt  obliged  for  the  sake  of  "  monarchical 
etiquette  "  to  have  a  mistress.  The  part  was  given  to 
a  vulgar  person  who  had  been  raised  to  the  rank  of 
a  Countess  of  Wartenberg.  Their  tender  relations 
were  confined  to  an  hour's  walk  in  the  park,  or,  if  the 
weather  was  unfavorable,  in  the  hall  of  the  palace,  in 
plain  sight  of  the  whole  court  and  to  the  amusement 
of  the  highly  intelligent  Queen. 

The  standing  army,  which  had  made  the  power  of 
the  princes  more  effective  against  the  Estates  and  the 
cities,  had  everywhere  a  very  easy  task  in  Germany, 
as  far  as  internal  politics  were  concerned,  after  the 
Great  War  had  broken  what  was  left  of  the  pride  of 
the  burgher  and  peasant.  A  submissive  servility  hope- 
lessly pervaded  the  masses,  and  even  the  best  had  lost 
all  social  and  national  feeling,  all  sense  of  being  a  part 
of  a  greater  body.  Every  one  stood  for  himself,  and 
tried  to  advance  his  own  interests  as  far  as  conditions 
would  permit.  If  not  compelled  by  the  want  of  daily 
bread  to  leave  the  homestead,  people  made  an  attempt 
to  rise  in  the  existing  system,  which  was  hardly  felt 
to  be  unjust.  The  luxurious  life  and  the  arrogance  of 
the  ruling  classes  were  accepted  as  a  matter  of  course, 
one  might  say,  as  a  divine  institution.  The  assertion 
that  they  were  subjected  to  the  same  moral  law  as  any 
burgher  or  peasant  would  have  been  received  with  the 
same  abhorrence  that  good  people  show  for  anarchism 
to-day. 


xxxi        ABSOLUTISM  AND  FRENCH  INFLUENCE          325 

Thus  those  traits  of  character  which  had  come  to 
light  under  the  cruel  stress  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War, 
fostered  by  the  rule  of  despotism  and  the  worst  vices, 
took  deeper  root.  To  these  belong  that  greed  for 
social  position,  for  titles  and  the  smiles  of  the  great ; 
servility  towards  those  who  hold  a  higher  position  as 
bearers  of  official  dignity  and  titles,  a  fear  of  publicity, 
above  all,  a  rather  remarkable  inclination  to  a  peevish, 
petty,  and  sceptical  attitude  as  regards  the  knowledge 
and  ability  of  others.  This  comes  to  light  again  and 
again  in  the  modern  German,  and  is  the  result  of  some 
very  meritorious  elements  in  his  character,  such  as  his 
sense  of  duty,  his  discipline  and  loyalty.  Somehow  the 
Prussian  system,  which  is  based  on  these  very  virtues, 
fosters  the  corresponding  vices,  which  combine  very 
well  with  strenuousness  (Schneidigkeit)  and  an  exter- 
nal correctness  of  bearing  which  often  lacks  a  solid 
character  foundation.  To  be  externally  vollstandig 
korrekt  and  tadellos,  that  is,  to  act  so  that  no  rule  of 
law  and  etiquette  be  neglected,  is  the  aim  of  the  Stre- 
ber  (career-hunter),  a  type  that  seems  to  develop  best 
in  northern  Germany,  but  it  is  not  popular  with 
southern  Germans  nor  with  the  plain  people  in  general, 
nor  do  foreign  visitors  take  kindly  to  it.  One  may 
be  a  law-abiding  citizen  and  at  the  same  tune  a  mean 
rascal  at  heart. 

The  exaltation  of  the  position  of  the  prince  extended 
to  his  court  and  his  government  officials,  as  well  as 
to  the  nobility,  which  had  long  since  become  a  court 
nobility.  The  feudal  system  had  disappeared,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  external  forms  symbolizing  cer- 
tain rights,  having  vanished  chiefly  through  disuse, 
although  in  Prussia  it  was  expressly  abolished  by  an 
edict  of  King  Frederick  William  I  in  1717.  Feudal- 


326  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

ism,  however,  as  the  abuse  of  usurped  privileges 
by  persons  of  higher  rank,  found  its  highest  develop- 
ment after  its  legal  extinction.  This  became  especially 
evident  in  a  contemptuous  attitude  towards  commoners 
and  in  the  harsher  treatment  of  the  unfree  peasant. 
The  latter  became  more  and  more  wretched  and  bereft 
of  rights  and  legal  protection.  It  was  he  on  whom  the 
principal  burden  of  supporting  the  wild,  luxurious  life 
of  the  rulers  eventually  fell.  At  the  same  time  he  was 
not  allowed  to  protect  his  fields  by  fences  against 
damage  done  by  game.  Just  as  for  beasts  of  prey,  a 
premium  was  paid  to  the  foresters  for  the  killing  of 
poachers  —  who  were  often  enough  peasants  trying  to 
protect  their  crops.  Thence  the  ineradicable  hatred  of 
the  peasant  for  the  nobility,  which,  after  German 
fashion,  found  expression  in  such  proverbs  as  :  "Young 
sparrows  and  young  noblemen  must  have  their  skulls 
crushed  in  time."  The  peasants  themselves  are  char- 
acterized by  even  a  well-meaning  author  in  these  words  : 
"Peasants  almost  remind  one  of  a  codfish;  they  are 
best  when  they  are  beaten  pretty  soft  and  thoroughly 
walloped." 

The  nobility  stepped  in  between  the  monarch  and 
his  people.  Every  nobleman  of  old  family  had  free 
entry  to  the  court  of  his  sovereign,  but  the  prince  was 
allowed  to  find  his  social  intercourse  only  among  the 
nobility.  The  more  arrogant  the  nobles  grew  towards 
the  people,  the  greater  was  their  servility  towards  the 
prince ;  they  felt  honored  if  permitted  to  perform  the 
most  despicable  services  and  to  lend  themselves  and  their 
families  to  satisfy  the  most  infamous  passions  of  their 
masters.  And  the  same  abject  servility  was  manifested 
by  large  classes  of  the  population  towards  the  nobility. 
Traces  of  these  shameful  qualities  are  to  be  found 


xxxi       ABSOLUTISM  AND  FRENCH  INFLUENCE         327 

today  even  outside  of  the  Strebertum,  described  above, 
and  are  only  too  often  disguised  by  the  names  of  Ger- 
man fidelity,  loyalty,  and  patriotism.  It  is  still  in 
many  states  very  difficult  for  common  people  to  gain 
admittance  to  the  presence  of  their  rulers,  and  those  sov- 
ereigns who  show  democratic  inclinations  are  frowned 
upon  by  their  fellows. 

But  absolutism  was  contemporary  with  important 
movements  in  the  world  of  thought  which  brought  about 
a  complete  change  in  conception  of  the  art  of  govern- 
ment and  the  state.  As  the  prince  was  the  absolute 
lord  of  the  state,  and,  as  is  shown  by  that  notorious 
I'etat  c'est  moi,  was  in  a  way  the  embodiment  of  the 
same,  so  in  theory  the  state  had  become  all-powerful 
both  for  good  and  bad.  The  philosophy  of  Rational- 
ism, or,  as  the  Germans  call  it,  Enlightenment,  Aufkld- 
rung,  had  discarded  all  historical  conception  of  things, 
and  attributed  the  ability  to  shape  all  social  and  eco- 
nomical conditions  to  the  state,  which  almost  seemed  to 
have  lost  its  abstract  character  and  to  have  become  a 
thing  or  a  force  for  itself.  This  means  that  wherever 
princes  did  not  give  satisfaction,  the  blame  was  placed 
on  the  state,  i.e.,  the  government.  Thus  absolute 
monarchy  forms  the  transition  to  the  idea  of  the  abso- 
lute state,  which  is  predominant  to-day  and  furnishes 
the  foundation  on  which  the  Socialists  want  to  build 
up  their  system.  We  shall  consider  later  the  practical 
results  of  this  theory,  which  is  introduced  at  this  point 
simply  to  show  that  absolute  monarchy  is  only  a  phase 
in  the  regular  progress  of  human  institutions,  in  spite 
of  all  its  abuses  as  they  appear  to  the  modern  observer. 
It  is,  therefore,  not  so  much  the  institution  of  absolut- 
ism itself,  which  we  must  conceive  as  the  product  of 
foreign,  especially  of  French,  influence,  as  the  peculiar 


328  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

form  it  took  after  the  war ;  it  may  be  that  without  the 
weakening  of  national  life,  which  culminated  in  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  German  development  might  have 
taken  a  course  similar  to  that  of  the  English. 

However,  we  know  that  foreign  influences  had  gained 
ground  in  Germany  as  early  as  the  sixteenth  century. 
Even  before  that  time  Humanism  had  tried  to  bring 
about  a  change  in  the  world  of  study,  but  at  the  begin- 
ning had  no  other  effect  than  the  substitution  of  classi- 
cal for  scholastic  authors  and  a  sporadic  introduction 
of  Greek  and  Hebrew.  Real  scientific  progress  had 
been  made  in  philological  studies  and  in  the  mathemati- 
cal sciences.  But  all  this  new  education  was  limited 
to  scholars ;  its  language  was  Latin.  There  was  a  de- 
cided attempt  to  imitate  the  great  scholars  of  other 
countries,  but  more  in  a  desire  to  equal  them  than  in 
direct  dependence.  Of  much  deeper  effect  was  the 
wave  of  Spanish  fashion  which  spread  all  over  Europe 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  reached  Germany, 
both  directly  through  Charles  V  and  his  court  and  by 
way  of  Italy;  later  by  way  of  Paris.  This  influence 
became  evident  in  the  forms  of  social  intercourse,  in 
costume,  especially  in  literature,  and,  as  we  have  seen, 
in  the  conception  of  monarchy.  Some  parts  of  the 
dress  were  endowed  by  the  common  people  with  de- 
scriptive names,  just  as  we  speak  of  swallow-tail  coats 
and  stove-pipe  hats  to-day.  As  formerly  the  broad- 
tipped  shoes  had  been  called  "duck's  bills"  or  "bull's 
mouths,"  now  the  pointed  stomachers  were  called  "goose 
bellies,"  while  the  stiff  horizontal  collar  encircling  the 
throat  was  called  "millstone"  collar.  The  women  re- 
ceived from  Spain  the  enormous  wire  construction 
called  the  farthingale,  the  French  name  of  which  - 
cache-bdtard  —  makes  them  a  witness  to  the  moral 


xxxx        ABSOLUTISM  AND  FRENCH  INFLUENCE         329 

standing  of  court  life.  The  costume  of  Spanish  women 
is  well  known  from  the  portraits  of  Queen  Elizabeth 
of  England.  In  literature  Spain  gave  birth  .to  the 
style  called  estilo  culto,  or  Gongorism,  which  ruled  in 
Italy  under  the  name  of  Marinism,  in  France  as  stile 
precieux,  in  England  as  euphuism.  In  Germany  it 
is  known  as  Schwulst  and  produced  the  most  grotesque 
exaggerations  of  models  which  were  already  stilted 
enough.  In  the  time  of  the  Schwulst  originated  the 
doll-like  conception  of  the  "lady,"  which  for  a  long  time 
ruled  the  social  tone.  France  was  the  first  to  outgrow 
this  style,  and  produced  the  great  literature  which  gave 
her  the  intellectual  leadership  of  Europe  at  the  same 
time  that  her  great  statesmen,  Richelieu,  Mazarin, 
and  Louis  XIV,  secured  her  political  supremacy.  In 
Germany  that  dissolution  of  all  peaceful  conditions, 
the  Thirty  Years'  War,  replaced  the  Spanish  euphuism 
by  a  period  of  freer  naturalism,  which  showed  itself 
also  in  the  mode  of  dress,  but  soon  changed  to  the  so- 
called  a  la  mode  period,  which  favored  a  fashion  of 
military  character,  and  was  especially  cultivated  by 
the  rich  youth  of  the  cities.  This  led  to  the  French 
court  fashion,  the  object  of  which  was  to  give  an  im- 
pression of  majestic  and  imposing  splendor.  For  this 
purpose  the  men  wore  the  well-known  periwig  with 
long,  flowing  curls,  the  lace  necktie  and  lace  cuffs  and 
the  rapier,  the  last  more  for  decoration  than  for  use. 
The  women  combed  their  hair  over  high  shapes  of  wire, 
called  in  Germany  the  Turmfrisur  (tower-coiffure), 
sometimes  reaching  such  a  height  that  an  opening  had 
to  be  provided  for  them  in  the  tops  of  the  sedan-chairs 
and  carriages ;  they  used  beauty-patches,  or  mouches, 
and  powder,  and  wore  long  trains.  All  these  tenden- 
cies found  expression  in  literature  and  in  the  Baroque 


330  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

style  of  art.  But  while  one  fashion  in  dress  ceded 
place  to  another,  the  various  currents  of  art  and  litera- 
ture and  of  intellectual  development  continued  side  by 
side,  running  parallel,  combining  and  developing. 
The  courts  and  the  cities  in  connection  with  them  were 
the  leaders  in  the  imitation  of  the  French,  which  with 
them  was  mostly  of  a  blind,  uncritical  character.  A 
popular  protest  against  the  exaggerations  of  fashion 
was  not  wanting ;  a  more  sober  style  was  favored, 
which,  with  the  men  at  least,  was  destined  to  g'ain  con- 
trol in  more  democratic  times ;  under  the  leadership 
of  the  pietists,  an  inconspicuous  gray  color,  called 
"pepper  and  salt,"  was  adopted  by  the  men  of  the  mid- 
dle classes.  Intelligent  patriots,  while  detesting  the 
exaggerations,  still  recognized  in  the  acceptance  of  the 
foreign  culture  a  good  discipline  for  the  barbarism 
caused  by  the  war  and  the  rudeness  of  German  cus- 
toms, the  "  Grobianismus "  of  earlier  times.  As  a  pro- 
test against  the  unnatural  fashion  of  the  periwig,  all 
the  world,  especially  the  military  circles,  adopted  the 
pigtail  or  queue  (der  Zopf},  invented  by  Frederick 
William  I  of  Prussia,  the  despotic  but  well-intentioned 
father  of  Frederick  the  Great.  "With  this  fashion," 
says  Scherer,  "he  created  a  German  symbol  of  rigid, 
sober  discipline  which  prefers  the  useful  to  the  beauti- 
ful, and  he  made  a  step  toward  nature,  for  he  led  back 
from  the  false  to  the  genuine."  The  reader  will  see 
that  even  the  pigtail  may  serve  as  a  rope  by  which  a 
good  German  patriot  may  raise  himself  to  a  high  pitch 
of  national  enthusiasm.  The  German  people  in  general 
consider  this  royal  invention  as  a  symbol  of  philistinism, 
pedantry,  backward  bureaucracy,  as  the  expression  of 
all  narrowness  which  has  not  yet  disappeared  from 
certain  spheres  of  German  life,  and  which  is  designated 


xxxi        ABSOLUTISM  AND  FRENCH  INFLUENCE          331 

as  Zopf  to-day.  This  fashion  has  likewise  found  its 
counterpart  in  a  certain  pedantic  style  in  art  which 
goes  by  the  name  of  Zopfstil,  and  finds  its  English 
parallel  in  the  Georgian  era. 

The  inventor  of  the  pigtail,  a  name  which  we  may 
classify  with  the  humorous  expressions  for  parts  of 
apparel  given  before,  has  furnished  an  oft-quoted  ex- 
ample of  the  manner  in  which  the  French  influence  had 
taken  hold  of  the  German  language  in  his  famous  say- 
ing :  "Ich  stabiliere  die  souverainite  wie  einen  rocher 
de  bronce"  (I  establish  sovereignty  like  a  rock  of  bronze). 

I  must  leave  it  to  the  history  of  literature  to  enter 
into  the  detail  of  the  purist  movement,  led  by  individ- 
uals or  learned  societies.  But  it  may  be  of  interest  to 
learn  the  contemporary  opinion  of  an  intelligent  man 
of  national  feeling  about  the  foreign  rule  under  which 
the  German  mind  labored;  the  passage  to  be  quoted 
rather  extensively  is  written  by  the  first  German  thinker 
to  gain  the  respect  of  Europe  after  the  lowest  ebbing 
of  national  life.  The  great  Leibnitz  says  in  his  pam- 
phlet entitled  "Unpresuming  Ideas  in  regard  to  the  Prac- 
tice and  Improvement  of  the  German  Language  "  : 

"It  now  appears  that  a  medley  has  ignominiously 
gained  ground  with  us,  so  that  the  preacher  in  his  pul- 
pit, the  attorney  in  his  chancellery,  the  commoner  in 
writing  and  speaking,  spoils  his  German  by  miserable 
French.  Whence  it  would  almost  seem,  if  this  is  con- 
tinued and  nothing  is  done  to  stop  it,  that  the  German 
language  may  be  lost  in  Germany,  not  less  than  the 
Anglo-Saxon  in  England. 

"In  the  century  of  the  Reformation  comparatively 
pure  German  was  spoken,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
Italian  and,  in  part,  Spanish  words  which  had  crept 
in  by  way  of  the  Imperial  court  and  the  few  foreign  ser- 


332  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

vants.  But  such,  if  done  moderately,  cannot  be  helped 
nor  is  it  to  be  blamed  very  much,  at  times  even  it  is  to 
be  praised,  especially  if  new  and  good  things  come  to 
us  from  abroad  with  their  names. 

"  However,  when  the  Thirty  Years'  War  had  started 
and  gained  ground,  Germany  was  swamped  by  foreign 
and  domestic  peoples  as  by  a  flood,  and  our  language 
went  to  wreck  and  ruin,  not  less  than  our  possessions ; 
and  one  sees  the  imperial  documents  filled  with  words 
of  which  our  ancestors  would  have  been  ashamed  indeed. 

"Since  the  Peace  of  Minister  both  French  influence 
and  language  have  gained  too  much  ground  with  us. 
France  has  been  'set  up,  so  to  speak,  as  the  model  of  all 
elegance;  and  our  young  people,  who  did  not  know 
their  own  country,  and  therefore  admired  everything 
French,  have  not  only  brought  then-  fatherland  into 
contempt  with  foreigners,  but  also  have  despised  it 
themselves,  and  out  of  inexperience  they  have  acquired 
a  disgust  for  the  German  language  and  customs  which 
has  stuck  to  them  with  growing  years  and  sense.  And 
because  most  of  these  young  people  have  later  obtained 
prominence  and  distinguished  offices,  these  admirers 
of  France  have  ruled  many  years  over  Germany,  and 
have  made  her  subject  almost,  if  not  quite,  to  French 
rule,  at  least  to  French  fashion  and  language. 

"  Nevertheless,  in  order  to  give  justice  its  due,  I  will 
not  deny  that  with  this  French  influence  many  a  good 
thing  has  come  to  us.  The  German  seriousness  of 
character  has  been  tempered  by  cheerfulness  ;  manners 
have  been  somewhat  modified  towards  elegance  and 
politeness,  also  towards  convenience ;  and,  as  far  as 
language  itself  is  concerned,  some  good  phrases  have 
been  transplanted  like  strange  plants  into  our  own 
tongue.  Therefore,  if  we  were  to  become  a  little  more 


xxxi       ABSOLUTISM  AND  FRENCH  INFLUENCE         333 

German-minded,  and  take  the  glory  of  our  nation  and 
our  language  somewhat  more  to  heart,  than  we  have 
during  some  thirty  years  of  this  comparatively  French 
period,  we  might  turn  bad  into  good  and  draw  advan- 
tage even  from  our  misfortune;  and  we  might  as  well 
find  again  our  innermost  core  of  the  old,  honest  German, 
as  adorn  it  with  the  new  external  decoration,  won,  so 
to  speak,  from  the  French  and  others." 

This  view  of  improving  German  language  and 
literature  by  imitation  of  the  French  is  likewise  held 
by  Thomasius  and  others,  also  by  Gottsched,  who  was 
so  unmercifully  flayed  by  Lessing,  but  who  in  this 
regard,  as  in  some  others,  undoubtedly  has  his  merits. 
Through  the  example  of  the  French  as  a  nation  which 
created  its  own  literature  in  the  vernacular,  the  reign 
of  Latin  was  ended;  as  early  as  1700  German  prose 
books  outrank  the  Latin,  which  in  1740  had  dropped 
to  twenty-six  per  cent  of  all  publications,  while  in  poetry 
German  had  gamed  full  control  long  before.  There 
never  has  been  a  similar  number  of  French  books 
published  in  Germany,  the  highest  rate  ever  reached 
being  thirteen  per  cent,  while  the  proportion  as  a  rule 
was  very  small. 

Seen  across  the  distance  of  many  generations,  the 
influence  of  French  culture  must,  on  the  whole,  be 
considered  beneficial,  in  spite  of  all  declamations  of 
German  chauvinists  to  the  contrary.  Germany  might 
conceivably  have  overcome  the  consequences  of  the 
period  of  decay  by  her  own  strength,  but  it  would  have 
taken  much  longer.  The  French,  besides,  had  some- 
thing to  give.  German  thoroughness  could  only  gain 
by  adopting  some  of  the  French  perspicuity  and  logical 
conciseness,  while  a  certain  bluntness  and  roughness 
in  the  German  could  stand  a  little  French  polish  with- 


334  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

out  sacrificing  genuineness  and  honesty.  It  was  un- 
doubtedly true  that  the  period  of  French  discipline 
has  been  of  great  advantage  to  the  progress  of  German 
civilization.  To  the  contemporary,  however,  it  easily 
might  appear,  in  view  of  the  exaggeration  of  the  im- 
ported mode  in  Germany,  of  the  great  advance  of  the 
French  in  all  fields,  and  of  the  weakness  of  the  German 
national  sense,  that  there  was  imminent  danger  of  the 
destruction  of  the  German  personality  under  the  new 
influence.  Thus  Germany  may  be  thankful  both  to 
the  men  who  saw  the  advantages  Germans  could  derive 
from  their  more  advanced  neighbors,  who  for  the  time 
became  the  teachers  of  all  Europe,  and  to  those  who 
by  their  warnings  prevented  this  influence  from  perma- 
nently impairing  the  national  personality.  We  know 
that  another  foreign  influence,  but  this  time  of  a  related 
nation,  helped  to  clear  the  German  mind  of  all  foreign 
ingredients,  and  placed  it  again  on  the  straight  road 
of  developing  its  Germanic  character.  I  refer  to  the 
period  which  made  Shakespeare  a  German  classic. 
But  when  we  compare  the  language  of  court  circles  and 
its  imitation  by  the  other  classes  during  the  predomi- 
nance of  French  influence  with  the  German  of  Luther 
and  again  of  the  German  classics,  we  understand  why 
modern  Germans  so  jealously  guard  the  purity  of  their 
language,  and  try  to  remove  the  last  traces  of  the  style 
of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  from  official 
documents,  where  euphuism,  Latinism,  and  Gallicism 
still  survive  with  almost  ineradicable  tenacity. 

As  the  monarch  was  the  wielder  of  all  power,  and  as 
the  weal  and  woe  of  his  subjects  depended  on  him  to  a 
degree  hardly  credible  to  the  modern  understanding, 
the  example  of  the  court  necessarily  took  the  lead,  not 
only  in  external  fashion  and  in  administrative  affairs, 


xxxi        ABSOLUTISM  AND  FRENCH  INFLUENCE         335 

but  in  all  spheres  of  human  interest.  In  Germany, 
moreover,  court  life  came  much  closer  to  the  people  than 
in  France,  which  could  boast  only  of  one  royal  court 
and  one  sovereign.  Almost  all  the  German  princes, 
with  a  few  exceptions,  ruled  over  miniature  countries, 
which  were  so  small  that  the  court  lived  almost  con- 
tinually under  the  observation  of  the  whole  people. 
No  matter  how  small  the  territory  he  controlled,  every 
prince  regarded  himself  as  a  sublime  monarch  by  the 
grace  of  God,  no  less  than  the  great  king  in  Versailles. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  court  was  more  easily  accessible 
to  the  people,  and  a  man  of  skilful  action  might  attract 
the  attention  of  his  sovereign  to  his  merits.  We  see 
in  this  circumstance  one  of  the  most  effective  causes  of 
the  all-pervading  ambition  to  become  connected  with  the 
court  in  some  way  and  manner.  At  all  events,  the 
cultural  ideal  set  up  by  the  courts  necessarily  exerted 
more  influence  on  the  people,  the  closer  they  came  under 
their  direct  observation.  To  become  a  perfect  courtier 
became  the  educational  ideal  of  the  German  middle 
class. 

The  number  of  noblemen  who  sought  their  existence 
in  the  service  of  the  princes  had,  of  course,  greatly 
increased  through  the  secularization  of  the  possessions 
of  the  Church.  No  longer  were  alluring  livings  offered 
to  the  younger  scions  of  noble  families,  who  formerly 
held  the  positions  of  bishops  and  abbots.  Court  life 
was  the  road  to  the  highest  civil  and  military  office. 
The  splendor  of  the  court  itself  was  a  great  attraction 
to  many  who  had  no  other  ambition  than  to  live  in  this 
refined  atmosphere ;  many  travelled  from  court  to 
court,  and  noblemen  from  abroad  added  their  foreign 
culture.  A  number  of  great  adventurers,  some  of 
whom  have  became  famous,  such  as  Cagliostro,  St. 


336  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

Germain,  and  others,  swelled  the  ranks  of  the  courtiers 
as  long  as  they  found  willing  dupes.  The  number  of 
courtiers  increased  in  its  turn  the  splendor  of  the  court. 

To  be  a  gallant  homme  was,  indeed,  the  first  con- 
dition of  admittance  to  polite  society.  The  perfect 
courtier  had  to  have  complete  control  of  the  French 
language;  he  must  conduct  himself  according  to  the 
latest  manners  and  fashions  of  the  Court  of  Versailles 
in  conversation,  fencing,  horseback  riding,  pistol  shoot- 
ing, meat  carving,  and  he  was  required  to  have  some 
knowledge  of  dancing  and  music ;  how  to  fold  a  napkin 
properly  was  one  of  the  many  smaller  arts  not  to  be 
neglected ;  also  a  knowledge  of  fashionable  games,  as 
piquet  and  Thombre,  dice,  chess,  and  checkers. 

But  in  addition  to  these  social  accomplishments,  the 
courtier  had  to  be  well  prepared  for  the  serious  side  of 
life,  and  be  able  to  fill  creditably  any  civil  or  military, 
especially  any  diplomatic,  position  to  which  he  might 
be  called.  He  had  to  study  mathematics,  physics, 
and  technology,  with  a  special  view  toward  the  art  of 
fortification,  political  history  and  law,  geography, 
statistics,  genealogy,  and  heraldry.  The  two  last  were 
indispensable,  as  a  breach  of  etiquette  in  failing  to 
address  people  by  their  right  title,  or  in  questions 
of  precedence,  was  one  of  the  greatest  crimes  a  courtier 
could  commit.  The  more  exclusive  court  society  grew, 
the  more  it  became  an  object  of  ambition  to  be  admitted 
to  it.  Patents  of  nobility  were  the  open  sesames ; 
their  sale  began  to  form  a  fruitful  source  of  revenue  for 
the  imperial  and  many  smaller  courts. 

The  ideal  of  the  court  circles  exercised  a  great  influ- 
ence over  the  middle  and  even  the  lower  classes.  At 
times  even  the  trades  people  tried  to  shine  in  the  reflex 
of  the  bright  sun  of  the  court;  the  privilege  of  dis- 


xxxi       ABSOLUTISM  AND  FRENCH  INFLUENCE         337 

playing  the  coat  of  arms  of  the  reigning  house  on  the 
business  signs,  and  the  titles  of  court  baker,  court 
cobbler,  and  so  forth,  became  objects  of  ambition  and 
were  often  dearly  paid  for. 

If  we  scrutinize  this  educational  ideal  a  little  more 
closely,  we  find  at  the  bottom  of  it  a  desire  to  rise  in 
rank  and  power,  which  is  perhaps  even  more  intense 
than  the  modern  desire  for  wealth  to-day.  The  modern 
motto,  "Nothing  succeeds  like  success,"  with  all  it 
implies,  had  not  been  formulated,  but  its  principles  were 
at  work  nevertheless.  The  art  of  advancing  one's  self 
in  life,  the  principal  quality  any  young  man  must 
possess,  was  called  Politik,  policy  hi  its  original  mean- 
ing of  "prudence  and  sagacity  in  the  conduct  of  affairs ; 
wisdom  and  shrewdness  in  management,"  as  a  diction- 
ary defines  it.  To  manage  affairs  so  as  to  attract  the 
attention  and  gain  the  favor  of  those  higher  in  rank, 
of  those  who  might  be  useful  in  furthering  one's  own 
interests,  was  the  principal  object  of  study,  and  books 
were  written  and  published  on  this  subject,  exactly 
corresponding  to  a  certain  kind  of  modern  literature, 
which  proposes  to  teach  people  "how  to  be  successful." 
Let  us  be  careful  that  our  modern  worship  of  success, 
which  means  power  and  luxury  through  the  possession 
of  wealth,  should  not  lead  to  the  same  consequences  as 
it  did  in  the  Germany  of  that  time,  where  success  meant 
power  and  luxury  through  the  possession  of  social 
rank.  All  other  interests  cannot  be  subordinated  to 
success  without  a  sacrifice  of  character ;  and  the  period 
of  which  we  treat  is  thus  justly  described  by  one  of  the 
latest  historians:  "The  character  of  the  time  was 
lack  of  character."  Court  life  has  produced  the  same 
results  everywhere,  and  if  these  became  more  con- 
spicuous in  Germany  than  anywhere  else,  it  is  another 


338  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

wretched  consequence  of  the  innumerable  petty  states 
which  covered  the  whole  country  with  courts  as  centres 
of  corruption,  as  boils  cover  a  plague-stricken  man. 

We  shall  see  that  there  were  some  noteworthy  excep- 
tions and  that  fortunately  some  rulers  used  their  abso- 
lute and  despotic  powers  to  lay  the  foundation  on  which 
a  new  Germany  was  built. 

The  position  of  women  had,  of  course,  entirely 
changed,  and  they  had  not  escaped  the  demoralizing 
influences  of  the  war  and  of  frivolous  customs  of  the 
French.  As  early  as  the  a  la  mode  period  they  had 
come  out  of  their  retirement,  and  their  part  in  society 
life  increases  as  times  progress.  I  shall  not  gossip 
about  the  courts  of  Germany,  nor  preach  a  sermon  on 
the  corruption  of  German  women.  Happily,  these 
influences  did  not  go  very  deep.  A  natural  sensuality, 
which  is  not  ashamed  of  itself,  has  always  been  a  quality 
of  the  German  of  both  sexes ;  the  frivolous,  degener- 
ate ambiguousness,  which  under  an  elegant  form  hides 
all  devices  of  seduction  and  shameless  perversity,  has 
never  taken  hold  to  any  extent  of  German  womanhood. 
Thus  the  tendencies  of  the  tunes  did  not  poison  any 
but  the  higher  classes  of  society.  On  the  contrary,  the 
women  were  the  keepers  of  national  traditions  hi  more 
than  one  respect. 

But  even  in  the  ruling  class  of  society  there  were 
plenty  of  exceptions.  We  meet  the  type  of  the  schol- 
arly woman  which  had  not  been  entirely  foreign  to 
Germany  during  the  Middle  Ages,  as  the  names  Hros- 
with,  Hildegard,  Mechthildis,  and  other  nuns  tell  us. 
As  early  as  the  eleventh  century  the  daughter  of 
Mannegold,  a  German  scholar,  was  teaching  in  Paris. 

In  the  period  of  which  we  are  speaking  Lutheran 
orthodoxy  found  an  intelligent  and  powerful  opponent 


xxxi        ABSOLUTISM  AND  FRENCH  INFLUENCE         339 

in  Anna  Owena  Hoyer  of  Holstein.  The  most  cele- 
brated of  the  learned  women  was  Anna  Maria  von 
Schurmann  of  Koln,  who  refused  to  marry  the  Dutch 
poet  Caets,  in  order  to  devote  herself  to  her  studies. 
She  knew  fourteen  languages,  was  very  scholarly,  held 
her  own  in  defending  Protestantism  in  heated  disputa- 
tions with  Jesuits ;  she  played  beautifully  on  the  lute, 
was  an  eminent  artist  in  embroidery,  painted,  and 
engraved  in  copper,  so  that  she  well  deserved  her 
honorary  name  of  "the  Dutch  Minerva."  Copper 
engraving  was  a  fashionable  pastime  of  the  period,  as 
burning  in  wood  was  with  us  not  so  very  long  ago. 

Louise  Henriette  of  Brandenburg,  the  wife  of  the  first 
Prussian  king,  the  friend  and  protectress  of  Leibnitz, 
was  very  intelligent  and  interested  in  all  higher  pursuits 
of  men.  She  composed,  as  did  many  other  princesses, 
religious  hymns,  of  which  one  at  least,  "Jesus,  meine 
Zuversicht,"  is  popular  to-day.  But  the  kind  of 
poetry  written  by  the  court  poet  von  Besser,  which, 
we  are  told,  she  read  with  approval  and  pleasure,  shows 
how  even  good  and  pure  women  lacked,  from  our  point 
of  view,  the  right  standard  of  decency.  Sybilla 
Schwartz  of  Greifswald,  who  died  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen, left  some  poems  which  indicate  that  Germany 
suffered  a  great  loss  in  the  premature  ending  of  her 
life.  Princess  Elizabeth  of  Baden-Durlach  writes  a 
plain  simple  language  which  stands  in  agreeable  con- 
trast to  the  pompousness  of  her  male  contemporaries 
in  literature.  The  most  interesting  figure  of  all  is 
Elizabeth  Charlotte  d'0rle"ans,  a  German  princess,  liv- 
ing at  the  frivolous  Court  of  Versailles,  but  preserving 
her  virtue  and  keen  observation  in  the  midst  of  all  the 
baseness  and  hypocrisy  with  which  she  was  surrounded, 
and  describing  her  experience  in  her  correspondence  in 


340  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

a  language  as  straightforward  and  forcible  as  that  of 
Luther. 

There  are  a  few  examples  of  princes  who  were  not 
so  much  entangled  in  the  prejudices  of  their  class  as  to 
be  kept  from  marrying  the  girls  they  loved,  though  they 
came  from  the  lower  classes.  Duke  Rudolph  August 
of  Brunswick-Lueneburg  married  Rosine  Menthe,  whose 
father  was  a  barber  in  Minden,  and  even  tells  her: 
"You  shall  not  be  my  left-hand  wife,  but  my  right 
one."  Prince  Leopold  von  Dessau,  der  alte  Dessauer, 
married  Marie  Louise  Foehse,  a  druggist's  daughter. 

Amongst  the  social  pleasures  that  peculiar  Ger- 
man institution,  das  Kaffeekraenzchen,  called  by  dis- 
respectful persons  Kaffeeklatsch,  had  taken  deep 
root  at  the  time.  It  is  said  to  go  back  to  the  sixteenth 
century ;  the  lady  whose  turn  it  was  to  be  the  hostess 
was  crowned  with  a  little  wreath  (Kraenzcheri) .  The 
first  coffee-house  was  opened  in  Hamburg  in  1680,  when 
besides  coffee,  tea  had  found  its  way  to  Germany. 
These  new  beverages  seem  to  have  tended  to  diminish 
the  drinking  of  stronger  liquors.  The  coffee  garden, 
which  is  the  end  of  a  family  walk  in  summer,  is  still 
popular. 

Tobacco  was  adopted  from  the  American  savages  hi 
the  sixteenth  century.  It  soon  became  popular,  and 
was  smoked  —  or,  as  the  expression  then  was,  " drunk" 
—  also  by  ladies.  Besides  smoking,  chewing  and  snuff- 
ing were  indulged  in,  the  latter  especially  by  the  fash- 
ionable ladies. 

Our  present  social  manners  date  chiefly  from  that 
time ;  on  the  whole,  they  indicate  an  improvement, 
especially  in  table  manners.  The  three-pronged  fork 
grew  common ;  its  use  had  become  the  rule  in  Ver- 
sailles after  1650.  The  pointed  knife,  which  had  been 


xxxi        ABSOLUTISM  AND  FRENCH  INFLUENCE         341 

used  to -pick  up  the  solid  food,  soon  became  rounded. 
Numerous  other  details,  now  thought  indispensable, 
had  their  origin  in  those  days. 

One  other  significant  change  may  be  mentioned. 
Politeness  became  so  great  that  people  did  not  dare  to 
address  their  interlocutors  directly  by  the  second  person 
of  the  personal  pronoun.  The  third  person  took  its 
place ;  and  to  increase  the  importance,  to  show  greater 
respect,  the  third  person  plural  was  used,  the  Sie 
used  in  German  to-day. 

Thus  we  may  find  many  external  traces  of  the  French 
influence  in  the  refinement  or  rather  over-refinement  of 
manners,  but,  while  with  their  originators  it  had  a 
natural  color  and  kept  within  measure,  it  was  for  the 
German,  after  all,  only  a  varnish,  unnatural  and  con- 
sequently misapplied,  especially  by  clumsy  exaggera- 
tion. However,  it  was  not  allowed  to  hide  the  under- 
lying personality  to  any  considerable  extent  after  the 
nation  had  recovered  from  the  weakness  caused  by 
the  times  of  decay  and  had  grown  vigorous  enough 
to  follow  its  own  destiny. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

BEGINNING    OF   MODERN    SCIENCE    AND   INDUSTRY 

Discoveries  and  Inventions    , 

IT  has  already  been  pointed  out  in  these  pages  that 
the  rise  of  absolutism  coincided  with  the  awakening  of 
conscious  reason  hi  the  individual.  This  had  been 
rescued  from  the  bondage  of  authority,  and  the  first 
consequence  was,  of  course,  an  unlimited  confidence  in 
its  own  strength.  Unconsciously  the  new  power  had 
been  trained  by  the  demands  of  actual  life,  of  commerce 
and  industry;  combinations  which  led  to  expected 
results  gave  confidence  in  the  power  of  reasoning  also 
to  those  who  had  not  gone  through  the  scholastic 
discipline.  The  new  discoveries  had  considerably 
widened  the  view  of  the  world,  and  the  fir^t  great  results 
of  the  awakening  of  reason  are  connected  with  the 
names  of  Copernicus  and  Kepler,  after  Magellan  had 
given  an  objective  proof  of  the  correctness  of  the 
presumption  on  which  Columbus  had  undertaken  his 
great  experiment. 

The  natural  interest  in  the  mathematical  sciences, 
which  showed  such  magnificent  and  wonderful  results, 
was  increased  when  the  Great  War  had  shown  the 
apparent  uselessness  of  all  humanistic  knowledge  to 
protect  and  support  life,  while  geography,  mathematics, 
and  sciences,  applied  to  technical  arts,  seemed  to  prom- 
ise practical  results  and  furnish  the  means  to  over- 

342 


CHAP,  xxxii       MODERN  SCIENCE  AND  INDUSTRY       343 

come  the  consequences  of  the  great  disaster.  It  was  at 
first  not  the  philosophy  of  rationalism  which  guided 
these  efforts  towards  improvement,  —  although  the  great 
thinkers  in  France,  the  Netherlands,  and  England  had 
not  remained  unknown, — but  the  unbounded  confidence 
in  an  all-powerful  reason,  which  could  accomplish  every- 
thing, if  only  correctly  applied,  that  produced  in  Ger- 
many that  utilitarianism,  which  in  morals  leads  to  the 
success-worship  that  destroys  character  and  gives  rise 
to  a  shallow,  trivial  view  of  life,  the  philosophy  of 
Philistinism.  Of  everything  it  is  asked,  What  is  it 
good  for?  Nothing  betrays  this  sad  condition  more 
than  the  German's  changed  attitude  towards  nature, 
which  had  still  been  his  intimate  friend  at  the  time  of 
Luther  and  his  century.  Now  the  Alps  are  called 
"a  horrible  and  boresome  mountain  chain";  a  land- 
scape is  only  beautiful  when  fertile  and  cultivated.  The 
unnatural  character  of  the  dress  and  periwig  in  vogue 
has  already  been  mentioned.  Nature  itself  had  to 
submit  to  the  artificial  taste  of  the  period.  This  is 
shown  by  the  new  style  of  garden  with  its  "  green  archi- 
tecture," as  Claudius  called  it,  cut  in  all  possible  and 
impossible  shapes ;  products  of  the  shears  as  they  are, 
we  feel  tempted  to  speak  of  them  as  tailor-made  trees. 
But  before  the  seventeenth  century  was  ended,  the 
first  generation  which  had  grown  up  after  the  war 
brought  forth  in  Gottfried  Wilhelm  Leibnitz  a  great 
thinker  who  was  not  satisfied  with  the  surface  of  things. 
He  is  the  father  of  German  philosophy,  which  may  be 
traced  from  him  in  continuous  development  to  its  most 
beautiful  product,  German  Idealism.  This  idealism  is 
evident  already  in  Leibnitz,  and  distinguishes  him 
from  Descartes  and  Spinoza,  as  well  as  from  the  Eng- 
lish thinkers,  who,  for  the  time,  are  represented  by 


344  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

Bacon,  Newton,  and  Locke.  Leibnitz  is,  nevertheless, 
a  typical  representative  of  his  time.  He  is  said  to  have 
been  the  last  man  who  mastered  all  human  knowledge, 
which  after  him  grew  to  such  an  extent  as  to  make  its 
acquisition  by  one  individual  impossible.  He  was  an 
independent  philosopher  with  practical  ends  in  view. 
He  wanted  to  solve  the  great  problem  of  how  the  inde- 
pendent existence  of  the  universe,  in  and  with  God, 
might  be  understood,  not  from  a  scholastic  interest  in 
a  rational  system,  but  from  a  desire  to  harmonize  man 
and  his  environment;  he  united  individualism  and 
universalism,  the  two  tendencies  of  the  German  mind. 
"For  him  the  world  is  a  system  of  spiritual  individuals, 
comprised  by  God,  the  creative  principle."  From 
him  dated  the  universality  of  German  science,  destined 
to  conquer  the  world.  A  true  son  of  German  culture, 
he  did  not  confine  to  his  own  nation  his  efforts  to  im- 
prove human  progress.  They  comprised  all  the  world, 
but  while  his  cosmopolitanism  due  to  the  character  of 
his  period  preponderated,  he  did  not  lack  in  national 
interest,  as  we  have  seen  in  a  previous  chapter.  The 
reconciliation  of  philosophy  and  religion  is  one  of  his 
aims ;  he  took  likewise  a  prominent  part  in  the  efforts 
to  bring  about  a  reunion  both  between  the  Lutherans 
and  Calvinists  and  between  Protestantism  in  general 
and  Catholicism;  efforts  frequent  at  the  tune  on  the 
part  of  true,  honest  lovers  of  humanity  as  well  as  of 
hypocritical  schemers,  for  whom  union  meant  absorp- 
tion by  their  own  party.  With  him,  of  course,  reason 
is  the  ruling  force  and  its  infallibility  must  have  ar- 
ranged everything  in  the  most  perfect  manner,  although 
we  may  not  have  advanced  far  enough  to  recognize  it. 
Thus,  it  is  but  natural  that  he  gave  the  most  sweeping 
expression  of  optimism,  declaring  our  world  to  be  the 


xxxii          MODERN  SCIENCE  AND  INDUSTRY  345 

best  of  all  worlds  possible.  Leibnitz,  then,  is  the  man 
who,  more  than  anybody  else,  reconquered  for  the  Ger- 
mans a  place  in  Western  civilization.  But  hi  spite  of 
all  his  merits  his  character  did  not  show  any  more  man- 
liness than  that  of  the  rest  of  his  contemporaries;  he  was, 
after  all,  in  many  respects  an  exalted  type  of  philistinism. 
Leibnitz,  with  all  his  universality  and  far-reaching 
plans  for  the  advancement  of  human  conditions,  had 
comparatively  little  influence  on  his  tune,  simply 
because  he  was  too  optimistic  and  far  ahead  of  his 
contemporaries,  as  is  best  illustrated  by  the  fact  that 
many  of  his  propositions  are  being  realized  or  agitated 
in  our  days.  In  Holland,  however,  where  the  ad- 
vanced thinkers  of  France  had  found  a  refuge  among  a 
people  sufficiently  advanced  intellectually  to  appre- 
ciate them  with  minds  responsive  to  their  own,  where 
Descartes  and  Bayle1  published  their  books,  so  influ- 
ential on  modern  thinking,  where  Spinoza  was  born 
and  lived,  the  great  Jew,  who  was  the  first  to  utter 
certain  thoughts  which  form  the  pride  of  German 
idealism  to-day,  —  in  Holland  there  originated  a 
current  which  has  influenced  the  practical  state  of 
human  affairs  more  directly  than  the  great  philosophers 
whose  importance  is  more  on  the  side  of  individual 
thought  development.  Here  the  cool  mind  of  the  great 
humanist  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam  had  set  free  a  ration- 
alist movement ;  here  the  advance  of  philosophy  had 
produced  a  number  of  historically  trained,  critical 
minds,  well  fitted  to  examine  the  traditional  truth; 
here  political  development  had  resisted  even  the  intol- 
erant tendencies  of  Calvinism.  And  here  Hugo  Grotius, 
a  member  of  the  liberal  Arminian  church  party,  applied 
reason  to  the  foundations  of  the  law  of  his  time,  and 
thereby  became  the  founder  of  the  so-called  Natural 


34G  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

Law,  which  was  based  on  the  nature  of  man,  and  not 
on  a  pretended  divine  authority.  In  his  book  "  De  iure 
belli  et  pacis"  he  became  also  the  founder  of  Inter- 
national Law.  That  is  why  during  the  first  Hague 
Conference  hi  1899,  the  American  delegate,  Andrew 
D.  White,  placed  a  wreath  on  the  tomb  of  Grotius  in  the 
Delft  cathedral,  hi  the  presence  of  the  authorized 
representatives  of  the  civilized  world.  By  his  truly 
Germanic  sense  for  symbolism  he  arranged  a  solemn 
and  imposing  celebration  which,  in  the  eyes  of  future 
generations  that  are  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  the  creation 
of  the  International  Tribunal,  will  form  one  of  the  most 
dramatic  scenes  in  human  history. 

The  successor  of  Grotius,  and  the  most  efficient 
exponent  and  developer  of  his  ideas,  was  the  German 
Samuel  Pufendorf,  who,  perhaps,  more  than  anybody 
else,  was  instrumental  in  freeing  German  science  from 
scholastic  fetters.  In  his  book  "  De  iure  naturae  et 
gentium,"  he  evolves  the  theory  of  Grotius.  But  he 
extends  it  and  claims  that  not  only  natural  right  but 
also  philosophy  must  be  perfectly  independent  of 
revealed  theology.  In  refuting  an  attack  of  Veltheim 
he  says  :  "If  Velthemius  tells  me  that  without  scholas- 
ticism the  Protestant  theologians  could  not  dispute  with 
the  Papists,  I  reply  that  it  is  indifferent  to  me  in  what 
kind  of  dirty  rags  they  wrap  up  their  knowledge.  This 
certainly  is  no  reason  why  natural  law  should  use  those 
same  rags,  since  this  science  has  not  been  invented  to 
dispute  with  Papists,  but  to  examine  and  investigate 
the  actions  of  men  and  nations!"  Elsewhere  he  says 
that  it  is  better  to  know  nothing  than  to  know  only 
scholasticism,  which  does  not  contribute  anything  to 
culture  and  treats  science  only  in  a  barbarian,  crafty, 
unproductive,  and  conceited  way.  Pufendorf  is  not  so 


xxxn          MODERN  SCIENCE  AND  INDUSTRY  347 

universal  a  mind  as  Leibnitz,  but  perhaps  of  greater 
international  influence.  On  closer  examination  of  the 
natural  law,  which  is  based  on  reason  instead  of  on  the 
authority  of  divine  revelation,  as  it  is  propounded  by 
the  German  thinker,  it  is  curious  to  meet  with  the 
ancient  principles  of  Germanic  law  at  every  step.  It 
is  evident  that  in  this  case  reason  has  used  a  German 
brain  as  an  instrument.  This  tendency  is  of  impor- 
tance to  note  at  the  present  stage  of  our  narrative.  It 
had  a  powerful  influence  in  establishing  the  doctrine 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  monarchs  to  provide  for  the 
happiness  of  their  subjects  in  any  manner  possible, 
even  by  force,  if  necessary,  since  then*  knowledge  of  the 
art  of  government  gives  them  a  greater  insight  and  wis- 
dom. This  new  doctrine  soon  found  adherents  among 
the  German  rulers. 

Parallel  with  this  there  was  another  movement  which, 
though  religious  in  character,  tended  towards  the 
establishment  of  practical  institutions  for  public  welfare. 
This  was  Pietism,  which  has  its  source  in  the  very  begin- 
nings of  the  Reformation  in  the  early  Lutheran  period, 
when  the  deeper  religion  of  mysticism  was  revived. 
Indeed,  it  had  never  entirely  subsided,  and  found  its 
greatest  prophets  among  the  Protestants  in  Jacob 
Boehm,  the  cobbler  and  philosopher  of  Chemnitz. 
In  direct  contrast  to  Luther  it  placed  good  works  above 
faith.  The  head  of  Pietism,  of  which  more  later  on, 
was  Philip  Jacob  Spener.  For  Americans  this  move- 
ment is  of  special  interest,  since  out  of  these  circles 
have  come  the  pioneers  of  German  immigration  in 
America.  The  man  who  is  looked  upon  as  the  father 
of  German  immigration,  Franz  Daniel  Pastorius,  the 
leader  of  the  Germans,  who  landed  in  Philadelphia  on 
the  sixth  day  of  October,  1683,  had  felt  the  direct  influ- 


348  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

ence  of  Spener,  with  whom  he  had  associated  in  Frank- 
fort. His  deep  religious  feeling  and  his  practical  work 
for  the  welfare  of  his  fellow-immigrants  show  him  as  a 
typical  representative  of  Pietism  at  its  best.  He  had 
not  been  in  his  new  home  for  five  years  before  the 
Germans  in  Pennsylvania  raised  the  first  public  protest 
against  slavery  in  America,  in  April,  1688,  which  was 
not  taken  up  by  the  Quakers  until  thirty-six  years 
later.  Pastorius  was  the  first  to  open  a  public  evening 
school,  where  English  was  taught  to  the  immigrants. 

All  these  tendencies  promoted  a  utilitarian  tendency 
in  education,  what  we  should  call  now  a  "practical" 
education,  which,  as  has  already  been  pointed  out,  was 
one  of  the  requirements  of  a  perfect  courtier.  In  Ger- 
many these  studies  were  called  by  a  Latin  name  realia. 
They  found  their  greatest  pedagogical  advocate  in  the 
Moravian  Comenius,  who  holds  his  place  of  honor  in 
German  civilization,  as  in  that  of  all  the  world.  No 
room  is  given  to  philosophical  speculations.  Christian 
Weise,  not  a  great  man,  but  nevertheless  a  factor  hi  the 
intellectual  development  of  Germany,  says,  "We  do  not 
learn  because  we  want  to  appear  scholarly,  but  hi 
order  that  we  may  become  of  some  use  hi  common  life." 
This  side  was,  of  course,  especially  emphasized  in  general 
education,  which,  however,  did  not  fail  to  be  influenced 
by  the  schools  for  the  nobility,  the  Ritterakademien. 

These  efforts  of  the  utilitarians  and  the  Pietists  met 
the  interests  of  the  more  intelligent  representatives 
of  absolutism.  Germany,  with  its  old  civilization  ap- 
parently destroyed  after  the  war,  seemed  to  be  a  most 
appropriate  field  for  all  these  doctrines.  Intelligent 
attempts  at  economic  development  for  the  alleviation 
of  the  general  misery,  for  the  military  strength  of  the 
people,  for  the  accumulation  of  national  wealth,  were 


xxxii          MODERN  SCIENCE  AND  INDUSTRY  349 

urgently  needed.  But  even  in  the  absence  of  all  ideal 
consideration  it  could  not  fail  to  be  evident  to  sovereigns 
of  some  intelligence  and  their  councillors  that  no  money 
could  be  forced  out  of  an  impoverished,  totally  ex- 
hausted population,  and  that  only  with  a  high  state  of 
national  prosperity  could  a  prince  expect  as  high  an  in- 
come as  he  needed  for  the  maintenance  of  his  court,  his 
army,  and  the  extravagance  of  his  living. 

Some  examples  of  good  government  had  been  fur- 
nished by  wise  princes,  even  before  the  Great  War,  while 
the  city  governments  were  very  slow  in  awakening  to  the 
new  opportunities.  But  even  before  the  end  of  the  war 
they  made  some  attempt  to  devise  measures  towards 
recovery,  the  most  remarkable  perhaps  being  a  decree 
of  the  territorial  Diet  (Kreistag)  of  Niirnberg,  which, 
in  view  of  the  almost  complete  depopulation,  abol- 
ished the  celibacy  of  the  Catholic  priests  and  recom- 
mended bigamy  to  laymen. 

The  princes  were  the  ones  who  represented  progress 
for  a  long  period  after  the  war.  It  was  not  only  the 
luxurious,  pompous  qualities  of  the  French  kings  which 
were  imitated  by  them,  but  they  tried  to  learn  from 
their  enlightened  statesmen,  and  Colbert  became  for 
many  a  teacher  in  administration.  Austria  and  Bavaria 
were  touched  least  by  the  new  spirit.  We  read  of  plans 
and  even  beginnings  of  colonization  in  foreign  continents, 
as  that  of  the  Great  Prince  Elector  of  Brandenburg ;  Duke 
Ernst  of  Gotha  even  entered  into  communication  with 
Abyssinia.  The  latter  was  one  of  the  most  noteworthy 
exceptions  among  the  princes  of  his  tune,  and  his  eco- 
nomic measures  proceeded  really  from  a  sense  of  duty 
towards  his  subjects.  To  him  belongs  the  honor  of 
giving  the  first  effective  compulsory  education  law, 
which  is  important  enough  to  be  quoted  here:  "All 


350  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

children,  boys  and  girls,  both  in  villages  and  in  cities, 
must  be  sent  to  school  without  delay  after  they  are  five 
years  old,  and  the  parson  must  keep  a  correct  list  of  such 
children.  Any  parent  who  is  so  rude  and  careless  as  wil- 
fully and  out  of  avarice  to  keep  his  children  from  school, 
and  thereby  from  their  best  good,  shall  be  fined,  after 
having  first  been  exhorted  and  warned  by  the  parson, 
one  groat  (Groscheri)  for  the  first  offence,  two  groats 
the  second  time,  three  groats  the  third  tune,  and  so  on 
to  six  groats,  without  respect  of  persons." 

Of  all  the  German  states  Brandenburg  is  distinguished 
by  the  wise  provisions  of  its  successive  rulers,  to  such  an 
extent  that  it  must  be  counted  as  one  of  the  great  forces 
in  the  regeneration  of  the  German  people.  Its  rulers 
have  since  the  day  of  the  Great  Elector  Frederick 
William  considered  themselves  as  the  first  servants 
of  the  people,  as  the  phrase,  generally  attributed  to 
Frederick  the  Great,  goes.  They  have  almost  without 
exception  made  the  welfare  of  their  people  the  principal 
aim  of  their  lives.  Not  satisfied  with  giving  an  impulse 
to  their  ministers  or  taking  credit  for  their  work,  they 
have,  though  not  all  men  of  the  greatest  brilliancy,  set 
an  example  of  complete  devotion  to  hard,  conscientious 
work,  thus  becoming  models  of  that  spirit  of  duty  which 
makes  the  holder  of  an  office  surrender  every  private 
interest  to  the  state,  and  which  has  had  such  beneficent 
influence  on  public  and  private  life  all  over  Germany. 

The  Great  Prince  Elector  himself  had  taken  Holland 
as  his  model  of  a  well-administered  state.  His  efforts 
towards  improving  the  conditions  of  commerce  and  in- 
dustry by  better  transportation  and  mail  service,  by 
building  canals,  by  inviting  intelligent  foreigners  to 
settle  in  his  state,  were  very  successful.  Of  the  greatest 
advantage  was  the  immigration  of  the  exiled  French 


xxxn  MODERN  SCIENCE  AND  INDUSTRY  351 

Huguenots,  of  whom  fifteen  thousand  followed  his  call. 
These  French  exiles  did  especially  good  service  in  the 
industries.  They  form  a  very  important  element  in 
the  population,  and  their  descendants,  thoroughly  Ger- 
manized for  generations,  have  given  to  Prussia  many  of 
its  best  and  most  patriotic  citizens,  although  it  seems 
to  be  just  a  little  bit  of  exaggeration  on  the  part  of 
French  historians  to  tell  us  that  all  German  civilization 
dated  from  this  French  immigration,  and  that  without 
them  the  Germans  would  to-day  still  roam,  clad  in  bear- 
skins, through  their  primeval  forests. 

Intelligent  care  in  all  fields  of  national  life,  combined 
with  a  far-sighted  provision  for  the  needs  of  future  gen- 
erations, peculiar  to  many  rulers  of  the  Hohenzollern 
dynasty,  distinguished  the  Great  Elector ;  and  the  ad- 
ministration of  his  two  successors,  though  they  were 
inferior  to  him  in  many  respects,  must  still  be  called  a 
government  for  the  people,  if  not  by  the  people. 

As  regards  science  the  practical  tendencies  of  the 
time  gave  a  special  prominence  to  the  mathematical 
sciences,  as  has  been  shown  before.  For  the  princes 
scientific  occupation  was  a  matter  of  fashion,  which 
with  some  became  a  hobby.  Great  collections  were 
made,  mostly  from  a  feeling  of  curiosity,  but  sometimes 
for  scientific  reasons.  Botanical  gardens,  menageries, 
and  astronomical  observatories  were  established ;  many 
princes  still  maintained  their  laboratories  in  the  hope 
of  discovering  the  art  of  making  gold,  but  science  more 
and  more  replaced  the  belief  in  magic.  The  Germans, 
however,  renewed  their  old  glory,  not  so  much  by  learned 
treatises  as  by  practical  discoveries  and  inventions.  In 
these  Niirnberg  continued  to  hold  the  first  place,  which 
it  had  kept  since  the  fourteenth  century.  There  was, 
moreover,  a  general  desire  to  acquire  knowledge,  which 


352  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

showed  all  the  enthusiasm  of  a  newly  acquired  taste. 
It  was  the  time  when  the  expression,  "Knowledge  is 
power,"  with  its  partial  truth,  obtained  the  authority  of 
an  article  of  faith.  To  know  everything  was  the  ideal, 
which,  for  his  age,  Leibnitz  had  reached.  As  early  as 
the  sixteenth  century,  and  earlier,  Germany  had  made 
some  valuable  contributions  to  science,  and  a  direct  line 
leads  from  Peurbach  and  Regiomontanus,  whose  nau- 
tical instruments  made  the  voyages  of  Columbus  pos- 
sible, to  Copernicus  and  Kepler,  while  Mercator  in- 
vented the  projection  of  maps,  Buergi,  decimal  fractions, 
and  logarithms,  as  well  as  the  pendulum  clock. 

In  the  period  after  the  Thirty  Years'  War  Guericke 
leads  with  his  invention  of  the  air-pump,  demonstrated 
before  the  Reichstag  in  Regensburg  in  1654,  when  the 
famous  experiment  was  made  with  two  hollow  hemi- 
spheres, one  yard  in  diameter,  which  could  not  be 
pulled  apart  by  twenty-four  horses.  This  event  was 
represented  in  a  picture  forming  the  frontispiece  to  his 
Physics.  Guericke  was  also  the  inventor  of  the 
electrical  machine  in  1663.  Leibnitz  was  the  first 
one  to  observe  an  electric  spark  in  1671 ;  and  two  years 
later  the  power  of  observation  had  been  improved 
enough  to  enable  some  one  to  see  and  report  on  the 
running  of  lightning  along  a  metal  rod.  The  fire  en- 
gine had  been  improved  in  Niirnberg,  last  by  Johann 
Hautsch.  The  latter  had  sold  an  automobile,  moved 
by  a  clockwork,  to  the  king  of  Sweden  in  1649.  It 
ran  only  16  Km.  an  hour.  A  year  later,  in  the  same  city, 
a  tricycle  was  invented  to  be  run  by  turning  a  crank 
attached  to  the  front  wheel.  Some  kind  of  phonograph, 
invented  by  one  Gruendler  of  Niirnberg,  is  described  in 
1682.  Also  the  first  report  of  an  experiment  in  pho- 
tography is  dated  before  the  end  of  the  century.  Leu- 


xxxii  MODERN  SCIENCE  AND  INDUSTRY  353 

wenhoek  discovered  the  blood  corpuscles:  But  in  the 
middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  anatomy  had  so 
little  advanced  that  a  dispute  arose  among  the  doctors  of 
the  Margrave  at  Heidelberg  as  to  where  the  heart  of 
their  distinguished  patient  was  located,  and  a  common 
vulgar  pig  was  killed  and  dissected  in  order  to  decide 
where  this  noble  organ  of  His  Highness  might  be  found. 
Anatomical  dissection  had  been  strongly  opposed  by 
public  opinion,  even  after  legal  permission  had  been 
assured.  Quite  a  time  elapsed  before  a  female  body 
was  placed  on  the  anatomical  table  in  Germany.  In 
1697  R.  J.  Camerarius  of  Tubingen  published  his  dis- 
covery of  the  fructifying  function  of  the  pollen  and  the 
sexuality  of  the  plants.  The  use  of  gas  in  street  illu- 
mination was  proposed  by  Becker  in  1686.  Berlin  blue 
was  invented  by  Diesbach,  1704,  while  in  1710  the 
famous  porcelain  factory  at  Meissen  was  opened,  the 
products  of  which  are  known  in  English-speaking 
countries  as  Dresden  china.  In  the  same  year  the 
wholesale  production  of  spoons  by  stamping  them  out 
of  the  sheet  metal  was  invented.  Thimbles,  first  in- 
vented in  Amsterdam  in  1684,  had  been  manufactured 
wholesale  in  Niirnberg  for  some  years.  In  1720  Bock 
in  Leipzig  produced  the  first  hose  for  fire  engines 
woven  without  seam.  Fahrenheit  of  Danzig  invented 
his  thermometer  in  1724.  G.  E.  Stahl  of  Halle  is  con- 
sidered by  many  as  the  father  of  modern  chemistry, 
which  he  established  as  a  science  by  formulating  its 
problem ;  he  distinguished  sharply  between  pure  and 
applied  chemistry.  In  1720  he  published  his  famous 
phlogiston  theory,  which  was  a  wrong  hypothesis,  in- 
deed, but  for  a  long  time  gave  the  opportunity  for  many 
important  and  correct  discoveries. 

The  introduction  of  coffee,  tea,  and  tobacco  has  been 

2A 


354  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

mentioned  before.  Potatoes  were  first  planted  in 
Germany  in  1648.  The  first  city  to  introduce  street 
illumination  in  Germany  was  Hamburg  in  1672,  fol- 
lowed by  Vienna  in  1687  and  by  other  large  cities  even 
more  slowly.  In  1700  the  Protestant  parts  of  Ger- 
many, Holland,  Switzerland,  and  Denmark  had  been  so 
far  influenced  by  Rationalism  as  to  see  that  correct  time 
would  not  impair  their  chances  for  salvation,  and  they 
at  last  adopted  the  Gregorian  calendar  which  had 
been  introduced  by  Pope  Gregory  XIII  in  1582,  twenty- 
five  years  after  Reinhold  of  Saalfeld  had  published 
the  calculations  on  which  it  is  founded.  England 
and  her  colonies  waited  till  1752,  while  Scotland  and 
Sweden  followed  in  1753.  Its  introduction  into  Russia 
has  been  discussed  for  some  time,  but  there  is  reason 
to  fear  that,  even  if  she  does  advance  her  dates  thirteen 
days,  she  will  not  be  up  to  the  times. 

It  is  in  line  with  these  improvements  to  say  a  few 
words  concerning  postal  service  and  journalism.  It 
is  hardly  necessary  to  point  out  that  correspondence 
of  some  kind,  of  a  political  or  other  character,  had  been 
going  on  throughout  the  Middle  Ages;  important 
documents  had  been  forwarded  by  special  messengers ; 
a  lively  exchange  of  letters  on  ecclesiastical  and  literary 
subjects  took  place  between  the  monasteries,  and  the 
travelling  monks  were  the  carriers  of  these  letters.  The 
increase  of  commercial  life  brought  about  a  regular 
messenger  service  by  professional  messengers  between 
the  different  commercial  centres  and  agents ;  such  was 
also  instituted  between  the  different  courts  and 
governments  and  between  the  universities.  Private 
persons  took  advantage  of  these  official  messengers, 
who  took  along  letters  as  a  sort  of  favor.  The  first 
great  advance  was  made  when  a  regular  service  of 


xxxn  MODERN  SCIENCE  AND  INDUSTRY  355 

messengers  on  horseback  with  relays  was  instituted. 
This  was  first  done  in  Italy  and  Spain.  The  first 
regular  service  in  Germany  was  begun  by  Maxi- 
milian I,  between  his  court,  wherever  it  happened  to 
be,  and  Milan.  The  family  of  Thurn  and  Taxis  had  run 
a  kind  of  postal  service  in  the  Tyrol  as  early  as  1460. 
In  1515  and  1516  contracts  were  made  by  which  they 
received  control  of  lines  in  Germany,  France,  and  Spain. 
The  house  of  Thurn  and  Taxis  in  time  secured  a  mo- 
nopoly in  many  states,  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  princes 
of  the  Empire ;  their  hold  on  the  postal  service  ending 
only  with  the  reorganization  of  Germany,  in  1866. 

The  service  was  greatly  improved  when  a  change 
at  the  relay  stations  was  introduced  for  the  messen- 
gers as  well  as  for  the  horses.  With  the  rise  of  the 
territorial  princes  many  of  the  latter  established  then* 
own  lines,  so  that  Germany  had  a  double  system,  the  im-  t 
perial  and  territorial  mail.  After  about  1500  the  public 
postal  service  was  at  the  disposal  of  private  persons  and 
became  a  welcome  source  of  revenue  to  the  princes. 

Journalism  is  closely  connected  with  the  postal  ser- 
vice. Occasional  news  pamphlets  were  published  as 
early  as  about  1500 ;  the  first  known  being  dated  1505, 
from  Niirnberg.  Princes,  merchants,  and  others  who 
had  an  interest  in  the  quick  reception  of  news  had  regu- 
lar correspondents.  But  the  natural  centre  for  the 
spreading  of  news  was  the  postmasters,  and  they  were  the 
first  to  provide  a  news  service  of  greater  regularity. 
It  was  not  until  1609,  however,  that  the  first  regular 
journal  appeared,  a  weekly,  published  by  Johannes 
Carolus  in  Strassburg.  Magazines  in  our  sense  of  the 
word  had  been  published  as  early  as  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, and  soon  began  to  play  an  important  part  every- 
where, as  we  know  especially  from  English  literature. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

ACADEMIC  LIBERTY 

A  Short  but  Important  Chapter 

IN  spite  of  the  parental  absolutism  in  Prussia  that 
only  slowly  has  made  its  concessions  to  the  modern 
spirit  of  self-government,  it  is  this  very  state  to  which 
Germany  is  indebted,  not  only  for  her  present  unity, 
but  also  for  that  precious  gift  of  liberty  of  instruction 
by  which  Germany  outshines  all  other  civilized  coun- 
tries, a  principle  which  had  been  proclaimed  first  by 
Spinoza,  but  which  Prussia  dared  first  to  adopt. 

The  eleventh  day  of  July,  1711,  is  one  of  the  great 
days  in  the  upward  movement  of  the  human  race.  It 
was  on  this  day  when,  in  the  University  of  Halle,  founded 
not  many  years  before,  the  Rector  in  a  speech  in  honor 
of  the  first  king  of  Prussia  promulgated  this  Declaration 
of  Independence  of  Science,  the  most  important  part  of 
which  I  quote  from  Paulsen's  "  History  of  Scholarly  In- 
struction." It  will  give  us  the  meaning  of  the  term  as  it 
has  been  understood  ever  since. 

The  subject  of  the  oration  of  Nicholas  Hieronymus 
Gundling  is  the  Liberty  of  the  Frederician  University 
(Halle).  He  calls  it  "the  vestibule  of  liberty"  (atrium 
libertatis).  "What  is  the  purpose  of  the  university?" 
he  asks,  and  his  reply  is  :  "To  lead  to  wisdom,  that  is, 
to  the  faculty  of  distinguishing  between  true  and  false. 
But  this  is  impossible  when  any  bounds  are  set  to  in- 

356 


CHAP,  xxxin  ACADEMIC  LIBERTY  35* 

vestigation."  The  question  is  then  discussed  whether 
any  man  has  a  right  to  compel  another  by  threats  of 
punishment  to  profess  an  opinion  not  his  own.  He 
answers  in  the  negative.  Such  compulsion  is  condem- 
nable,  by  reasons  of  natural  law  and  utility.  There 
is  nothing  more  useful  than  liberty  of  teaching  and 
writing;  by  this  the  powers  of  the  mind  are  called 
forth,  all  the  sciences  will  flourish,  arts,  wealth,  and 
population  will  grow,  as  has  been  shown  by  the  example 
of  the  Netherlands.  But  it  is  said :  liberty  is  good 
indeed,  but  not  license.  To  this  Gundling  replies : 
"Has  an  attempt  at  improvement  ever  been  made 
without  experiencing  the  reproach  of  subjectivism,  of 
anarchy?  Have  not  the  founders  of  the  modern 
physics  been  thus  accused  by  the  friends  of  occult 
properties?  But  compulsion  in  these  matters  is  evil 
everywhere.  Teach,  exhort,  pray;  if  they  hear,  it  is 
well ;  if  not,  learn  to  bear  it.  Truth  rises  before  us : 
let  him  who  can  ascend,  let  him  who  dares,  seize  her ; 
and  we  will  applaud.  (Veritas  adhuc:  qui  potest  ad- 
scendat,  qui  audet,  rapiat  et  applaudemiis.) " 

In  spite  of  all  the  attacks  and  occasional  flagrant 
violations  of  this  principle  by  reactionary  influences, 
it  has,  from  the  time  of  its  promulgation  in  Halle, 
been  the  protection  and  life-giving  power  of  German 
science,  which,  after  the  dogmatism  of  Luther  and  his 
successors  had  deprived  the  Reformation  of  one  of  its 
greatest  blessings,  may  really  date  from  that  tune  the 
beginning  of  its  modern  success.  That  the  words  were 
true  is  proved  by  the  testimony  of  J.  H.  Heumann,  who 
writes  in  1718,  seven  years  after  Gundling's  speech, 
"The  liberty  and  the  wisdom  of  Halle  has  spread  its 
light  also  to  the  other  German  people  and  everywhere 
the  professors  are  already  ashamed  to  believe  many  a 


358          HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION    CH.  xxxni 

thing  which  appeared  a  sacred  duty  in  the  time  of  our 
fathers." 

Even  the  Prussian  constitution,  granted  by  a  reac- 
tionary government  after  the  failure  of  the  liberal 
Revolution  of  1848,  contains  the  famous  article  20: 
"  Science  and  its  teachings  are  free."  But  under  the 
name  of  academical  liberty,  this  principle  includes 
more  than  mere  liberty  of  science ;  besides  liberty  of 
teaching  on  the  part  of  the  professor,  it  means  liberty 
of  learning  and  liberty  of  living  within  the  common  law 
for  the  student.  The  German  people  consider  this 
academic  liberty  as  one  of  their  most  valuable  cultural 
attainments,  and  any  attempt  to  curtail  it  even  in  its 
minor  bearings  arouses  a  protest  of  the  liberal-minded 
all  over  Germany,  not  confined  by  any  means  to  the 
academic  students  and  graduates. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT 

I 

General  State  of  German  Society.    Pietism.    Rationalism 

WITH  Frederick  the  Great,  whose  government  began 
in  1740,  we  enter  upon  a  period  which  seems  contiguous 
to  our  own  tune. 

People  have  the  same  interests  and  the  same  ideas 
as  the  modern  Germans,  the  same  emotions  move  their 
hearts,  the  same  problems  puzzle  their  brains.  Books 
written  in  those  days  do  not  necessarily  seem  strange 
to  us.  The  grandparents  of  those  of  us  who  are  of 
middle  age  have  known  people  who  lived  in  those  times, 
and  from  them  our  parents  and  we  ourselves  may  have 
heard  accounts  which  seem  those  of  eye-witnesses. 
During  the  childhood  of  many  living  Germans  coins 
of  the  time  of  Frederick  the  Great  were  common 
currency  and  offered  a  puzzle  to  them  when  they  were 
accepted  only  at  80  per  cent  of  their  nominal  value. 

It  was,  as  we  have  seen,  a  time  of  philistinism,  die 
Zopfzeit,  the  time  of  the  queue,  so  familiar  in  the 
pictures  of  George  Washington ;  but  the  original  queue, 
as  invented  by  the  father  of  Frederick  the  Great,  was 
a  much  stiffer  and  longer  appendage,  almost  as  straight 
as  a  stick. 

The  spirit  of  mediaeval  times  had  almost  completely 
disappeared  from  the  surface.  The  country  still 

359 


360  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

suffered  from  the  consequences  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War.  In  social  and  industrial  conditions  Germany 
was  behind  France  perhaps  fifty  to  seventy-five  years, 
behind  England  twenty-five  years  more. 

The  greatest  difference  between  these  and  mediaeval 
times  was  that  the  people  did  not  think  alike  any  more. 
Formerly  there  was  only  one  view  of  the  world,  and 
that  was  contained  in  the  teaching  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  which  was  not  opposed  or  questioned  by  any 
one.  There  were  no  controversies  about  the  creation 
or  the  existence  of  God.  There  were  different  currents 
of  thought  within  the  Church,  but  that  contrast  of 
views  which  we  observe  now,  that  different  way  of 
thinking  which  prevents  people  of  the  same  nationality 
from  understanding  one  another,  was  impossible  in  the 
Middle  Ages.  In  spite  of  changed  views  and  advances 
in  politics,  however,  there  were  plenty  of  mediaeval 
institutions  and  ideas  still  left  in  Germany. 

One  modern  idea  had  replaced  the  ideal  of  a  universal 
empire,  and  controlled  European  politics  since  the 
Peace  of  Westphalia,  and  that  was  the  European  balance 
of  power.  The  largest  states  of  Europe  did  not  want 
any  of  the  smaller  ones  to  grow  up  to  become  their 
rivals,  and  France,  holding  the  supremacy  of  Europe 
at  the  time,  watched  jealously  that  none  of  the  other 
great  powers  might  gain  an  advantage  in  their  mutual 
rivalry.  This  is  very  important  to  keep  in  mind.  It 
explains  all  the  political  disturbances  in  the  reign  of 
Frederick,  who  wanted  to  raise  Prussia  to  the  rank  of  a 
Great  Power,  which  was  opposed  by  all  the  other 
powers.  How  well  Frederick  succeeded  is  a  fact  of 
political  history ;  his  state,  which  was  only  the  thir- 
teenth in  Europe  as  far  as  its  area  was  concerned,  was 
left  by  him  the  fourth  in  military  strength.  This 


xxxiv      THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  361 

European  balance,  ostensibly  intended  to  preserve 
peace,  has  been  a  most  fruitful  source  of  war  ever  since 
its  establishment. 

The  German  Empire,  so-called,  was  still  in  existence, 
principally  on  paper,  and  in  a  few  drowsy  institutions. 
The  German  Emperor,  as  such,  was  absolutely  power- 
less. The  house  of  Habsburg,  which  secured  the  elec- 
tion of  its  scions  with  such  regularity  that  the  imperial 
dignity  might  as  well  have  been  hereditary,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  the  bargaining  about  the  votes,  owed  its  power 
to  the  family  possessions  which  are  known  to-day  as 
the  Austrian-Hungarian  monarchy  and  which  were 
of  far  more  interest  to  them  than  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire  of  the  German  nation.  We  have  seen  that  the 
great  vassals,  who  in  France  and  England  had  been 
subdued  and  were  simply  subjects  of  the  highest  rank, 
had  succeeded  in  Germany  in  becoming  full-fledged 
sovereigns.  Only  externally  did  they  do  homage  to  the 
Emperor.  Still  theoretically  even  the  kings  of  France, 
England,  and  Spain  called  themselves  in  court  lan- 
guage the  vassals  of  the  " Roman"  Emperor;  but  he 
would  have  been  laughed  at  had  he  based  any  claims 
on  this  polite  acknowledgment. 

The  great  German  princes  were  represented  in  the 
Reichstag,  which  had  become  an  assembly  of  ambas- 
sadors without  any  influence  in  the  affairs  of  state ; 
most  of  their  time  was  spent  in  disputes  regarding  their 
respective  rank.  For  example,  a  long  debate  was 
caused  by  the  question  as  to  whether  one  particular 
delegate  should  have  two  feet  of  his  chair  on  the  rug 
under  the  table,  or  the  whole  chair. 

All  together  Germany  consisted  of  over  seventeen 
hundred  independent  " rulers,"  since  being  a  direct 
vassal  of  the  Emperor  was  only  a  nominal  dependence. 


362  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

Over  three  hundred  .of  these  were  sovereigns  of  coun- 
tries, Lander  as  the  Germans  call  them ;  they 
were  princes,  dukes,  grand  dukes,  or  perhaps  only 
"Counts,"  as  well  as  the  archbishops,  bishops,  and 
abbots,  and  the  cities  with  their  territories.  Their 
states  were  of  some  size  and  worthy  of  attention.  But 
there  were  fourteen  hundred  independent  noblemen, 
knights  who  had  small  estates,  perhaps  a  cottage  or  a 
stable  with  a  cow  or  a  pig  in  it.  The  Prince  of  Thurn 
and  Taxis  was  a  sovereign  on  the  strength  of  his  title 
only  and  the  monopoly  of  the  imperial  mail  service. 

One  state,  Hanover,  since  1714  united  in  personal 
union  with  the  crown  of  England,  began  to  feel  a  breath 
of  a  freer,  more  modern  air.  The  king  of  England  in 
this  way  had  become  a  prince  of  the  German  Empire, 
and  English  influence  at  once  became  very  strong  in 
Hanover.  In  1737  the  University  of  Gottingen  was 
founded  and  soon  became  more  advanced  than  that 
of  Halle. 

Almost  as  much  as  Germany  was  behind  France 
and  England,  the  Catholic  states  in  southern  Germany, 
in  general,  were  behind  the  Protestant  North.  Bavaria 
was  called  the  " German  Spain."  Worst  of  all  were 
the  states  under  ecclesiastical  rule.  It  has  been  esti- 
mated that  in  these,  for  each  hundred  inhabitants, 
there  was  an  average  of  one  priest  and  one  beggar. 
Koln  alone  had  over  one  thousand  beggars. 

Religion  was  not  the  only  dividing  element  between 
the  Germans.  Language  was  still  far  from  being 
uniform.  The  Catholics  opposed  vigorously  the  lan- 
guage of  Luther's  translation  of  the  Bible.  As  late 
as  1779  the  Jesuit  party  raised  a  loud  clamor  against 
one  Canon  Braun,  who  had  published  some  text-books 
in  the  "  Lutheran  language, "  and  he  was  taken  to  task 


xxxiv      THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  363 

by  his  superior,  the  Bishop  of  Regensburg.  Every- 
where the  dialects  kept  a  strong  hold  on  the  people,  to 
whom  even  to-day  the  High  German  of  the  educated 
often  seems  affected. 

The  strongest  contrasts  and  estrangement  existed 
between  the  different  classes  in  Germany.  There  were 
the  many  courts  with  their  courtiers  who  were  all 
noblemen.  Their  class  had  become  of  the  greatest 
influence  and  formed  a  fence,  so  to  speak,  around  the 
sovereign  and  a  barrier  between  the  court  and  the 
rest  of  the  people.  In  some  of  the  smaller  states 
when  it  was  necessary  at  a  court  ball  or  other  affair  to 
invite  some  of  the  people  who  were  not  of  the  nobility, 
great  care  was  taken  in  marking  off  with  a  rope  the  line 
which  they  must  not  cross,  lest  they  should  mingle 
with  people  of  blue  blood.  There  are  persons  alive 
to-day  who  have  witnessed  this  spectacle.  This  notion 
of  blue  blood  was  not  a  mere  pretence  by  any  means; 
a  great  many  people  really  believed  that  the  noblemen 
had  a  different  kind  of  blood  than  was  flowing  in  the 
veins  of  a  commoner  or  peasant.  The  idea  was  that 
these  Estates  were  created  by  God  and  were  a  natural 
institution.  A  nobleman  of  that  time  would  look 
down  on  a  peasant  as  we  would  look  down  on  an  animal. 

The  tune  was  near,  however,  when  the  conditions  of 
the  peasant  were  to  be  improved,  not  out  of  pity  or  a 
sense  of  justice ;  reasons  of  state  told  the  rulers  that 
a  starving  peasant  would  not  make  a  good  soldier,  nor 
could  a  poor  commoner  pay  taxes. 

The  only  people  who  could  lead  a  "  complete  life," 
as  we  should  call  it  after  Herbert  Spencer,  —  the 
German  calls  it  sich  ausleben,  —  were  the  nobility. 
Indeed,  the  man  who  led  the  most  complete  life  of  all 
the  Germans,  Goethe,  was  not  a  nobleman  by  birth; 


364  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

but  he  belonged  to  the  ruling  class  of  the  free  city  of 
Frankfort-on-the-Main,  and  before  he  was  raised  to 
power  and  position  —  as  far  as  power  and  position  went 
in  the  small  Duchy  of  Weimar  —  he  was  made  a  mem- 
ber of  the  nobility.  But  it  was  Goethe  himself,  in 
"Wilhelm  Meister,"  who  makes  the  statement  at  the 
head  of  this  paragraph. 

Recognition  for  intelligence  and  education  was  not 
entirely  lacking.  When  military  service  became,  about 
this  time,  to  a  certain  extent  compulsory,  in  Prussia  at 
least,  the  passing  of  an  examination  —  the  so-called 
Genie-Examen  —  would  release  a  man  from  military 
duty. 

A  good  picture  of  the  German  middle  class  about 
the  beginning  of  Frederick's  reign  and  in  the  second 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century  may  be  found  in  the 
poems  "Der  siebzigste  Geburtstag,"  by  Johann  Hein- 
rich  Voss,  and  " Hermann  und  Dorothea,"  by  Goethe. 
A  few  cities  held  then*  own  as  centres  of  intellectual 
life  against  the  absorbing  influences  of  the  courts. 
Frankfort,  which  had  held  first  place  during  the  last 
century,  was  outrivalled  by  Leipzig,  and  the  two  were 
soon  overtaken  by  Hamburg.  The  book  trade  was 
transferred  from  Frankfort  to  Leipzig,  which  only 
recently  has  found  a  rival  in  Berlin.  The  influence 
of  Leipzig  shows  itself  in  the  curious  custom  that  books 
published  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  year  are  usually 
dated  from  the  following  year,  because  the  great  Leip- 
ziger  Messe,  or  annual  fair,  takes  place  in  October, 
when  the  publishers  and  booksellers  convene  to  settle 
up  the  business  of  the  year.  These  fairs  were  of  great 
importance  before  transportation  had  reached  its 
present  stage  of  advancement,  and  have  survived  espe- 
cially where  trade  with  the  Eastern  countries  is  of 


xxxiv       THE  AGE   OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  365 

importance.  But  speaking  of  Leipzig  as  a  great  book 
emporium,  we  must  take  occasion  to  point  out  the  im- 
mense influence  the  German  publishers  have  had  on  the 
intellectual  life  of  the  nation,  and  to  some  extent  are 
exercising  in  the  present  time.  The  German  learned 
bookseller  is  very  often  a  university  graduate,  in  fact 
the  successful  ones  are  mostly  so.  No  one  can  under- 
stand fully  the  development  of  German  literature  who 
does  not  know  the  influence  of  firms  like  the  Cottas  and 
others,  and  their  connection  with  the  best  German 
writers.  All  who  are  familiar  with  the  life  of  Heine 
know  of  his  pleasant  relations  with  his  publisher  Campe ; 
Gustav  Freytag  openly  acknowledged  that  it  was 
really  his  friend  and  publisher,  Hirzel,  who  showed 
him  the  road  to  success. 

As  far  as  the  external  life  is  concerned  we  have  an- 
ticipated some  of  its  progress  hi  the  last  chapter. 
Street  illumination  was  still  exceptional;  the  citizen 
who  went  out  after  dark  had  to  carry  his  own  lantern, 
and  was  arrested  when  found  wandering  about  the  city 
without  it. 

The  dress  of  the  period  is  familiar  from  the  pictures 
of  Washington  and  of  colonial  times.  In  this  respect, 
as  in  others,  English  influence  in  fashion  began  to  show 
itself  instead  of  French.  The  round  hat  and  high  boots 
of  the  English  squire  came  into  vogue.  Gardens  and 
parks  were  more  natural,  but  still  were  not  like  those  of 
later  days.  Their  style  was  still  artificial,  more  an 
imitation  of  nature  than  nature  itself;  but  bushes  and 
trees  were  no  longer  cut  into  figures  of  animals,  crosses, 
or  other  geometrical  shapes. 

But  what  were  the  views  of  life  of  the  people  of  that 
time,  what  did  they  think  of  their  position  in  the  world, 
what  were  their  ideas  of  God,  how  did  they  answer  the 


366  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

questions  :  Where  do  we  come  from  ?  Whither  do  we 
go  ?  How  do  things  come  to  be  as  they  are  ? 

Of  course  the  great  mass  of  the  people  were  faithful, 
even  superstitious,  adherents  of  the  different  churches, 
to  which  the  more  educated  classes,  although  more 
liberal  in  their  religious  views,  remained  likewise 
attached.  Pietism,  in  spite  of  its  influence  on  the 
emotional  life  toward  a  not  always  wholesome  senti- 
mentality, was  of  the  greatest  importance  in  the  intel- 
lectual development  of  the  people.  It  is  in  keeping 
with  general  tendencies  that  the  Pietists  made  the 
schools  a  special  object  of  care,  and  what  we  call  " prac- 
tical education"  was  greatly  enhanced  by  them.  It 
is  to  Pietism  that  the  German  Realgymnasium,  for- 
merly Realschule,  owes  its  origin.  Its  best  known 
pedagogue  was  Aug.  Hermann  Francke,  whose  school 
establishments  in  Halle  have  been  famous  ever  since 
then*  foundation.  They  furnish,  by  the  way,  the  first 
instance  of  a  German  institution  founded  by  national 
subscription.  While  the  fertile  germs  contained  in 
Pietism  continued,  the  movement  itself  became  a 
victim  of  ossification  and  of  its  own  intolerance,  the 
very  vices  which  had  caused  its  separation  from  Ortho- 
doxy. But  is  it  not  a  common  human  experience  that 
religious,  political,  or  social  movements  are  eager  for 
liberty  and  are  tolerant  and  progressive  only  so  long  as 
they  are  persecuted,  showing  the  opposite  of  these 
qualities  when  they  have  conquered,  and  try  ing  to  use  the 
power  of  the  state  to  persecute  in  their  turn  those  that 
hold  different  views  ? 

Pietism,  however,  must  not  be  considered  merely  as 
a  protest  against  orthodox  dogmatism,  but  likewise  as 
antagonistic  to  the  shallow  life  of  the  courts  and  lead- 
ing social  circles.  It  emphasizes  the  inner  life  as  against 


xxxiv      THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  367 

external  pleasures ;  a  close  intimacy  of  congenial  souls, 
fostered  by  small  assemblies  (conventicles),  originating 
from  Spener's  "  Collegia  pietatis,"  took  the  place  of 
social  entertainments  and  found  expression  in  the 
letters  of  the  time,  which  became  confessions  of  inner 
experiences ;  correspondence  was  entered  upon  even  by 
people  personally  unknown  to  each  other.  In  those 
days  of  utmost  social  exclusiveness  Pietism  was  the  first 
means  of  bringing  together  people  of  different  rank, 
still  with  appropriate  condescension  on  the  part  of  the 
nobility  and  corresponding  humility  on  the  other  side. 
This  movement  is  confined  neither  to  the  Protestants 
nor  to  Germany;  it  shows  its  influence  also  in  other 
countries,  and  the  same  tendencies  are  observed  in 
Catholicism. 

Sometimes  united  in  their  reformatory  tendencies, 
both  equally  hated  by  the  Orthodox,  although  funda- 
mentally different,  even  contradictory,  Pietism  and 
Rationalism  worked  for  a  time  side  by  side.  Francke, 
Thomasius,  and  Wolf  were  teaching  at  the  same  time 
in  Halle,  the  home  of  free  search  for  truth,  and  there- 
.  fore  the  refuge  of  all  great  men  persecuted  by  the  old 
parties.  But  while  Pietism  was  in  its  decline,  Ration- 
alism was  in  its  ascendency;  instead  of  the  heart, 
reason  formed  the  centre  of  interest,  and  Rationalism 
obtained  the  leadership  in  intellectual  life  for  almost  a 
century. 

The  philosophical  school  called  Rationalism,  which 
had  been  developed  in  the  Netherlands,  England,  and 
France,  reached  Germany  considerably  later.  It  is 
another  phase  of  the  emancipation  of  the  individual 
which  reached  its  first  epoch  in  the  Reformation.  It  is, 
as  its  name  indicates,  the  expression  of  an  unlimited 
confidence  in  reason.  In  Germany,  instead  of  "  Ration- 


368  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

alism,"  an  expression  used  for  a  certain  theological 
school,  the  term  " Enlightenment"  (Aufkldrung)  is 
commonly  used.  There  is,  however,  a  very  important 
difference  between  German  enlightenment  and  English 
and  French  Rationalism :  while  the  latter  led  to  Pan- 
theism or  Atheism,  the  former  remained  faithful  to  the 
fundamental  tenets  of  Christianity ;  God,  free  will, 
and  immortality  were  upheld,  not  even  revelation  was 
denied.  The  German  criticism  was  directed  against 
the  intolerance  of  Orthodoxy,  at  superstition  in  all  its 
forms,  and  the  claims  and  prerogatives  of  the  clergy. 
The  Christian  doctrines  were  interpreted  in  a  ration- 
alistic spirit;  but  since  reason  was  the  only  arbiter  of 
truth,  and  no  external  authority  was  recognized,  every 
independent  thinker  gave  to  Christianity  his  own  inter- 
pretation. For  the  first  time  since  the  days  of  the 
Greeks  human  reason  had  become  perfectly  self-con- 
scious, felt  its  own  power,  and  in  the  first  joyful  pride  in 
itself  overestimated  its  importance.  The  mere  power 
of  thought  promised  sufficient  strength  to  construct  the 
world  out  of  itself,  as  well  as  to  bring  order  and  system 
into  our  personal  and  social  life.  Nothing  was  accepted 
that  would  not  stand  the  test  of  reason.  In  many  re- 
spects the  workings  of  the  new  philosophy  met  with 
the  utilitarian  tendencies  of  the  previous  period  which 
had  also  struck  a  responsive  chord  in  Pietism.  But, 
although  Rationalism  forgot  that  man  does  not  only 
think  and  try  to  understand,  but  also  has  a  heart  to 
feel  with,  it  meant  an  immense  enrichment  of  life.  It 
brought  not  only  a  greater  insight  into  the  nature  of 
things,  both  in  regard  to  the  forces  of  nature  and  to  the 
human  soul  itself,  but  this  new  knowledge,  with  the 
feeling  of  self-reliance  it  gave  to  man,  naturally  pro- 
duced a  greater  energy  of  will,  a  desire  to  exercise  man's 


xxxiv      THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  369 

power  over  nature,  the  forces  of  which  he  had  learned 
to  know,  and  to  submit  one's  own  passions  to  the  con- 
trol of  reason.  Whereas  Luther  had  shown  that  the 
judge  of  our  actions  was  in  our  own  souls,  now  the  im- 
pulses of  our  heart  were  to  be  tested  before  the  court  of 
reason.  We  may  justly  call  Rationalism  the  principal 
source  of  the  exact  sciences  and  of  modern  technical 
progress. 

The  " natural  law"  as  developed  by  Grotius, 
Pufendorf,  and  their  school  has  already  been  men- 
tioned ;  modern  political  and  economical  ideas  owe 
their  firm  establishment  to  the  same  movement,  so 
does  the  acknowledgment  and  realization  of  the  right 
of  independent  individual  activity  in  all  fields  of  human 
interest.  It  ought  not  to  be  necessary  to  remind 
American  readers  of  Thomas  Paine's  "Age  of  Reason," 
that  the  Declaration  of  Independence  is  an  expression 
of  this  philosophy  as  well  as  the  declaration  of  Human 
Rights;  the  French  Revolution  cannot  be  thought  of 
without  it. 

To  return  to  Germany,  Rationalism  found  there  an 
unusual  amount  of  prejudice,  antiquated  institutions, 
and  other  obstacles  in  its  way.  This  may  have  been 
the  reason  why  the  German  thinkers  were  compelled  to 
proceed  more  slowly  than  their  predecessors  in  other 
countries;  they  examined  point  by  point,  and  devel- 
oped a  careful  analytic  habit.  As  they  were  opposed 
to  all  authority,  they  naturally  felt  the  weight  of  his- 
tory and  tradition  as  an  unbearable  burden.  It  was 
not  so  much  pride  in  their  own  times  which  led  them  to 
look  down  on  the  experiences  of  the  past,  as  the  aver- 
sion of  the  individual  subjectivism  to  be  hampered  by 
any  ties ;  besides,  reason  appeared  to  be  perfectly 
sufficient  and  even  better  adapted  to  explain  all  things 
2a 


370  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

existing.  This  view  recommended  itself  the  more  to  the 
thoughtful  student,  as  only  written  tradition,  which  of 
necessity  had  approached  the  facts  under  the  preju- 
dices of  the  author,  was  conceived  as  history.  But  the 
greatest  source  of  antipathy  against  history  was  the 
tyranny  exercised  by  existing  customs  and  institutions 
based  on  historical  rights.  In  time,  however,  under 
careful  analysis  it  was  seen  that  it  was  possible  to 
separate  superstition,  prejudice,  and  error  from  rea- 
sonable, historical  development ;  the  conception  of 
history  as  a  natural  organic  growth  took  hold  of  the 
German  scholars  before  Rationalism  had  drawn  its 
last  radical  conclusion,  and  forms  another  one  of  the 
reasons  why  German  Enlightenment  inclined  rather 
towards  reform  than  towards  revolution.  Being  of 
a  less  radical  character,  the  movement  soon  lost  the 
aristocratic  aspect  it  had  in  France  and  England, 
where  its  doctrines,  regarded  as  dangerous  for  the 
masses,  were  guarded  for  an  esoteric  few. 

As  the  first  great  German  representative  of  the  move- 
ment, Christian  Thomasius  must  be  mentioned,  a 
disciple  of  Pufendorf  and  of  the  French  philosophers. 
His  influence  on  German  thought  was  so  great  that  it 
has  been  called  by  a  writer  of  his  own  century  a  second 
Reformation.  He  insists,  as  Pufendorf  had  done,  on  a 
complete  separation  of  philosophy  and  theology.  He 
founds  law  and  morals  on  the  nature  of  man,  not  on 
theology.  The  strong  emphasis  placed  on  practical 
morality,  which  distinguishes  the  whole  period  of 
Enlightenment,  is  not  wanting  in  Thomasius's  writings. 
He  does  not  take  his  stand  against  the  Christian  faith, 
but  against  the  narrow  Orthodoxy  of  his  time.  Tolera- 
tion and  liberty  of  conscience  find  in  him  an  energetic 
and  untiring  advocate;  he  was  one  of  the  greatest 


xxxiv      THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  371 

forces  toward  the  abolishment  of  the  persecution  of 
witches  and  heretics,  as  well  as  of  torture  and  corporal 
punishment  of  criminals.  He  has  a  special  claim  on  the 
national  gratitude  of  the  Germans  for  his  championship 
of  the  German  language  as  the  medium  of  instruction 
in  the  universities.  His  colleagues  in  the  University 
of  Leipzig  were  horrified  when  he  "  disgraced  the  honest 
black  bulletin  board"  by  his  announcement  in  German 
of  his  lectures.  But  he  stuck  to  his  purpose.  The 
Leipzig  faculty,  however,  was  not  progressive  enough 
to  suffer  a  man  of  his  advanced  thought  in  their  ranks. 
He  had  to  leave,  but  was  gladly  welcomed  in  Halle. 
Thomasius  also  led  in  the  effort,  characteristic  of 
the  German  Enlightenment,  to  popularize  the  new 
scientific  achievements.  He  published  a  periodi- 
cal, Monthly  Chat  (Monatsgesprache),  dealing  with 
the  new  studies.  He  expected  progress  from  "the 
liberty  of  all,"  in  distinct  contrast  to  his  older  contem- 
porary, Leibnitz,  who  addressed  himself  to  the  courts 
and  learned  societies.  In  spite  of  his  advocacy  of 
German,  Thomasius  was  broad-minded  enough  to  see 
the  superiority  of  the  French  language  and  literature  of 
the  time.  He  recommended  the  study  of  French 
in  the  hope  of  introducing  a  greater  elegance  and 
perspicuity  into  German  style,  which  lent  itself  with 
difficulty  to  the  treatment  of  philosophical  and  scien- 
tific questions. 

That  the  German  language  in  the  proper  hands,  if 
not  as  elegant  as  French,  might  even  then  afford  a  means 
of  simple  and  easy  expression  of  human  thought  was 
shown  by  the  greatest  teacher  of  the  Enlightenment, 
Christian  Wolf,  who,  a  follower  of  Leibnitz,  system- 
atized and  popularized  the  new  science.  His  influ- 
ence both  in  Germany  and  abroad  was  immense.  His 


372  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

books  were  translated  into  all  civilized  languages, 
while  he  claimed  that  his  Logics  was  read  even  by 
peasants.  He  was  one  of  the  greatest  intellectual 
leaders  of  Europe  and  brought  all  the  new  knowledge, 
all  the  tendencies  of  his  time,  into  an  encyclopaedic 
system.  Dry  as  is  the  reading  he  offers  to  the  modern 
man,  his  books  were  eagerly  perused  by  the  public  of 
his  day;  he  taught  the  public  at  large  to  think  philo- 
sophically and  therefore  did  perhaps  more  to  free  the 
higher  intellectual  life  from  the  fetters  of  theological 
dogmatism  than  any  one  else.  There  was  not  a  great 
German  in  the  world  of  thought  in  the  second  half  of 
the  eighteenth  century  who  would  not  gratefully  ac- 
knowledge him  as  his  teacher.  He  had  the  gift  of 
putting  the  new  ideas  into  plain  language,  and,  shallow 
as  he  may  appear  to  us,  he  prepared  the  way  for  deeper 
thought.  Reason,  virtue,  nature,  the  great  ideals  of  the 
Enlightenment,  were  brought  forth  more  prominently 
by  him  than  ever  before.  Although  he  deduced  the 
whole  universe  from  reason,  he  claimed  that  philosophy 
must  not  attack  the  principal  doctrines  of  the  Church ; 
he  evaded  such  intricate  questions  as  life  after  death, 
and  others ;  in  his  works  there  was  nothing  unfathom- 
able or  mystical ;  everything  was  clear,  simple,  and 
intelligible  to  the  average  public.  But  it  is  not  aston- 
ishing that  a  man  who  had  the  courage  to  teach  that 
people  might  lead  an  honest,  upright,  and  happy  life 
without  a  faith  in  God  met  with  the  bitter  hostility  both 
of  the  Orthodox  and  the  Pietists.  The  latter,  who  at 
the  time  were  of  great  influence  at  the  Court  of  Berlin, 
caused  his  dismissal  from  Halle  by  telling  the  king  that 
the  philosopher's  books  taught  the  soldiers  that  their 
military  oath  on  the  flag  was  not  binding.  This,  of 
course,  was  decisive  with  a  monarch  like  Frederick 


xxxiv      THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  373 

William  I,  the  father  of  Frederick  the  Great.  In 
justice  to  the  king  it  must  be  said  that  when,  later  on, 
he  recognized  his  error,  he  tried  to  make  amends  and 
call  Wolf  back,  but  the  latter  declined. 

Most  plainly  visible  and  beneficent  was  the  influence 
of  Wolf  on  the  German  universities.  The  old  scholastic 
methods,  still  surviving,  could  not  withstand  the  new 
spirit  and  disappeared  forever.  Soon  the  opponents 
of  the  philosopher  saw  that  scholasticism  did  not 
possess  the  inner  strength  to  fight  their  enemy,  and 
even  Catholic  theologians  studied  Wolf's  philosophy  to 
take  from  his  own  arsenals  the  weapons  with  which 
to  combat  him.  Though  Wolf  may  appear  to  the 
modern  critic  as  the  "genius  of  mediocrity,"  mankind 
in  general,  and  especially  German  culture,  owes  him  a 
debt  of  gratitude,  as  one  of  the  prophets  of  the  coming 
German  idealism,  as  the  emancipator  of  the  modern 
university  spirit.  We  may  consider  both  Wolf  and 
Thomasius  as  forerunners  of  modern  democracy,  show- 
ing the  equality  of  human  nature  and  the  validity  of  the 
moral  law  both  for  the  highest  and  the  lowest  on  the 
social  scale.  If  we  find  the  last  representatives  of  the 
period  of  Enlightenment  commonplace  and  ridiculous, 
we  must  not  forget  that  when  first  brought  forth  by 
Thomasius,  Wolf,  and  their  contemporaries  their 
thoughts  were  radical  and  advanced,  and  it  is  an  indi- 
cation of  the  remarkably  rapid  progress  and  strong 
influence  of  these  thoughts  on  the  people  that  in  less 
than  two  generations  they  had  become  trite. 

The  English  influence  was  most  evident  in  the  moral 
side  of  the  movement.  This  influence  found  its  way 
principally  through  three  different  avenues :  indirectly 
through  French  literature,  more  immediately  by  the 
way  of  Hamburg,  where  commercial  relations  fostered 


374  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

a  continuous  touch  with  English  life,  and  by  way  of 
Hanover,  which  was  under  the  rule  of  the  English  king. 
The  "Spectator"  and  "Tatler"  found  a  great  many 
imitations  in  Germany;  they  did  not,  however,  come 
up  to  their  English  models,  and  showed  a  much  stronger 
tendency  towards  Philistinism. 

The  position  of  women  was  somewhat  improved  by 
the  new  philosophy;  they  were  conceded  to  have  "a 
good  natural  understanding,"  and  more  attention  was 
given  to  their  education.  We  have  already  seen  that 
the  women  had  allowed  themselves  to  be  influenced  by 
French  court  customs  considerably  less  than  the  men ; 
now  we  find  them  taking  a  great  interest  in  the  reform 
movement.  The  women  of  the  middle  class  especially 
welcomed  the  new  periodicals  whose  aim  it  was  to  write 
for  everybody,  in  wholesome  contrast  to  the  lascivious 
court  novels  of  the  French  period.  But  while  the 
morality  of  family  life  improved  greatly  under  the  new 
influences,  reason  gained  too  much  weight  where  feeling 
ought  to  have  had  the  last  word.  There  were  no  love 
marriages;  there  is  no  more  prosaic  business  imagi- 
nable than  the  engagement  and  marriage  of  a  couple 
of  the  German  middle  class  in  the  Age  of  Enlighten- 
ment. This,  however,  did  not  prevent  an  unwhole- 
some or  artificial  exaggeration  of  the  emotional  side 
which  had  its  source  in  Pietism  and  was  destined  to 
gain  new  strength  by  the  influence  of  Jean  Jacques 
Rousseau. 

All  these  tendencies  were  at  work  when,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-eight  years,  Frederick  II,  wrho  early  in  his  reign 
was  surnamed  "the  Great,"  became  king  of  Prussia. 
He  was  undoubtedly  the  most  brilliant  personality  of 
the  Enlightenment,  great  enough  to  give  his  name  to 
the  epoch  which  by  no  less  a  person  than  Immanuel 


xxxiv      THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  375 

Kant  has  been  called  the  Age  of  Frederick  the  Great. 
For  Germany  Frederick  is  much  more  than  one  of  her 
greatest  men.  He  gave  his  nation  a  new  life.  He 
made  the  Germans  feel  again  as  one  people.  For  the 
first  time  since  the  Thirty  Years'  War  the  Germans 
saw  one  of  their  nation  successfully  resist  the  foreigners. 
Within  five  years  he  was  acknowledged  as  the  greatest 
monarch  of  Europe.  He  inspired  literature,  not  only  as 
a  great  hero,  but  filled  it  with  a  national  pride  which 
was  heretofore  unknown,  and  which  alone  made  the 
development  of  a  truly  national  literature  possible. 
But  it  was  not  only  his  own  nation  that  rejoiced  at  the 
appearance  of  the  hero ;  all  Europe  hailed  his  victories 
with  joy  and  mourned  his  defeats.  At  last  a  leader 
had  appeared  who  did  not  bend  his  neck  under  the  over- 
bearing supremacy  of  French  absolutism. 

From  the  beginning  he  showed  his  anxiety  for  the 
welfare  of  his  people,  his  genius  made  itself  felt  in  all 
fields  of  life,  and  his  own  energy  seemed  to  find  its  way 
into  his  officials  and  subjects,  who  under  his  predecessor 
had  already  gone  through  a  good  school  of  patience, 
persistence,  discipline,  and  sense  of  duty. 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT 
II 

The  King 

WE  cannot  speak  about  Frederick  without  first  say- 
ing a  few  words  regarding  his  father,  Frederick  Will- 
iam I.  Of  him  we  generally  hear  nothing  good ;  he  is 
represented  as  a  tyrant  with  almost  insane  ideas.  But 
this  view  of  him,  due  chiefly  to  Macaulay's  description, 
which  was  dictated  by  antipathy,  is  not  justified.  He 
was  a  true  son  of  his  times,  a  Philistine  of  the  purest 
water.  If  he  tried  to  quench  the  genius  of  his  son,  he 
did  so  because  he  was  unable  to  appreciate  such  a  char- 
acter; he  meant  to  be  a  good  father,  trying  to  do  the 
best  for  his  family.  He  had  the  highest  conception  of 
the  responsibilities  of  his  royal  position,  and  honestly 
thought  that  the  ideas  which  his  son  advanced,  the 
qualities  of  character  his  son  displayed,  would  lead  to 
his  ruin  and  to  that  of  his  people ;  to  avoid  this  he  was 
even  willing  to  have  his  own  son  executed  to  save  his 
people  from  the  fate  that  would  overtake  them  if  such 
a  king  ascended  the  throne.  He  was  only  too  happy 
when  a  change  of  mind  became  apparent  in  Frederick. 
In  his  administrative  measures  he  showed  that  he  well 
knew  what  was  best  for  his  state  and  was  not  wholly 
adverse  to  modern  ideas.  He  abolished  serfdom  on 
all  the  royal  estates;  he  put  an  official  end  to  the 

376 


CHAP,  xxxv  THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT     377 

feudal  system  in  his  kingdom ;  and  if  he  did  not  put  a 
stop  to  cabinet  justice,  he  at  least  did  not  show  any 
favoritism,  but  had  all  his  subjects  treated  alike,  so 
that  we  may  say  he  established  equality  before  the  law. 
He  introduced  a  just  system  of  taxation  and  avoided 
the  mistake  made  in  other  countries  of  farming  out 
the  taxes ;  he  had  them  collected  by  public  officials  in- 
stead ;  and  princes  of  the  royal  house  were  taxed  like 
the  rest  of  his  subjects.  This  certainty  of  uniform 
justice  for  all,  and  the  placing  of  taxation  beyond  the 
reach  of  private  greed,  removed  from  Prussia  two  of 
the  greatest  causes  of  dissatisfaction,  which  in  France 
led  to  the  Revolution. 

It  was  Frederick  William  I  who  established  that  mili- 
tary character  which  distinguishes  the  Prussian  army 
and  has  made  the  German  army  what  it  is  to-day ;  he 
taught  the  Prussian  soldier  that  it  is  a  distinction  to 
wear  the  uniform  of  the  king,  that  it  is  his  duty  to 
give  his  life  for  his  country.  He  implanted  in  the  army 
and  corps  of  officers  that  idea  of  honor  which  is  founded 
on  self-respect  and  devotion  to  duty.  This  type  of 
Prussian  officer  with  these  qualities,  due  to  Frederick 
William  I  and  fostered  and  broadened  by  his  son,  has 
been  masterfully  drawn  by  Lessing  in  the  character  of 
Major  von  Tellheim,  in  "Minna  von  Barnhelm." 
In  the  year  1722  the  king  donned  the  uniform  of  his 
army  and  wore  no  other  apparel  thereafter, — a  thing 
no  monarch  had  ever  done  before  him.  Thus  he  set 
an  example  for  his  subjects  of  respect  for  the  army  and 
its  members,  and  so  strengthened  their  self-respect,  - 
a  master  stroke  of  psychological  common  sense.  The 
spirit  of  honor  and  duty  which  had  been  cultivated  in 
the  military  officer  has  not  remained  confined  to  the 
army,  but  has  become  the  spirit  which  dominates  all 


378  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

public  servants,  not  in  Prussia  only,  but  all  over  Ger- 
many. This  could  never  have  been  accomplished, 
however,  if  the  monarchs  themselves  had  not  given 
examples  of  these  qualities.  The  Prussians  have  be- 
come accustomed  to  see  their  kings  share  their  hard- 
ships in  peace  and  war.  No  laborer  was  ever  bound 
more  firmly  to  his  daily  task  than  Frederick  William 
to  the  arduous  duties  of  his  high  office. 

This  tradition,  however,  had  come  down  to  Frederick 
the  Great,  who  called  himself  the  first  servant  of  his 
people,  not  from  his  father  only,  but  from  the  Great 
Prince  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  who  laid  the  first  foun- 
dation of  the  greatness  of  Prussia.  These  rulers  used 
their  absolute  power  to  do  the  best  they  could  for  their 
subjects  and  to  force  them  in  the  right  path,  sometimes 
in  a  way  that  would  not  appeal  very  strongly  to  our 
modern  sympathies.  Frederick  William  I  led  a  most 
economical  life ;  indeed,  he  had  only  one  passion,  that 
of  obtaining  enormously  tall  men  for  his  guards.  At 
one  time  he  sent  two  hundred  skilled  craftsmen,  cut- 
lers, from  Solingen  to  Peter  the  Great  to  get  in  return 
about  half  that  number  of  tall  Russians  for  his  crack 
regiment.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to  begin  wars  on 
smaller  states  to  get  such  men.  But  this  was  the  only 
extravagance  he  indulged  in.  He  saved  nine  million 
thalers,  which  his  son  found  in  the  treasury  when  he  was 
preparing  to  execute  his  far-reaching  plans. 

Thus  in  his  plain,  common-sense  way  the  father  had 
the  field  well  tilled  for  his  genial  son.  The  latter  had 
learned  to  appreciate  his  sterling  qualities,  to  which 
he  added  the  broad  view  of  a  philosopher  and  the 
brilliancy  of  a  genius;  he  brought  with  him  likewise 
the  analytic,  systematizing  spirit  of  his  rationalistic 
training.  His  whole  reign  was  a  training  in  discipline, 


xxxv       THE  AGE   OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  379 

not  only  for  the  officers  and  the  army,  but  also  for  the 
civil  officials  and  all  his  subjects ;  and  the  strictest 
discipline  of  all  he  applied  to  himself.  It  has  thus 
been  ingrained  into  the  Prussian  character.  Frederick's 
extraordinary  success  caused  his  example  to  be  imi- 
tated by  other  monarchs  and  finally  helped  to  abolish, 
at  least  in  western  Europe,  that  type  of  prince  who 
sees  in  his  exalted  position  only  a  means  to  satisfy  his 
whims  and  passions.  With  the  growth  of  Prussian 
influence  this  quality  imparted  itself  to  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  German  nationality.  Organization  and 
discipline  belong  together.  In  the  Germans  they  are 
acquired  habits.  It  was  the  lack  of  organization 
and  discipline  that  caused  the  ruin  of  the  old  Empire; 
these  very  qualities  have  built  up  and  form  the  strength 
of  the  new.  The  Germans  have  been  taught  by  their 
very  misfortune  the  necessity  of  discipline,  which  does 
not  mean  the  cringing  obedience  of  the  slave,  but  the 
intelligent  sacrifice  by  a  free  man  of  some  of  his  privi- 
leges to  fit  himself  into  his  place  in  the  greater  organi- 
zation for  the  purpose  of  accomplishing  greater  ends. 
Discipline  is  therefore  the  keynote  of  German  educa- 
tion; in  fact  it  is  discipline  which  changes  the  school 
from  an  opportunity  for  instruction  into  an  instrument 
of  education.  For  this  discipline  in  the  service  of 
organized  society  is  based  on  self-discipline. 

When  Frederick  was  called  to  the  throne,  he  was 
completely  under  tte  influence  of  Wolf.  While  his 
predecessor  considered  himself  the  father  of  his  sub- 
jects, who  had  to  provide  for  their  welfare  as  a  part  of 
his  Christian  duty,  Frederick  approached  the  duties 
of  his  office  as  a  philosopher.  He  has  said  himself: 
"It  is  the  place  of  philosophers  to  be  the  teachers  of 
the  world,  and  the  guides  of  princes.  They  must 


380  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

think  logically  and  it  behooves  us  to  act  logically." 
It  is  interesting  to  compare  with  this  what  Emperor 
Joseph  II,  his  admirer  and  less  successful  imitator, 
said  of  himself:  "  Since  I  have  come  to  the  throne  and 
wear  the  foremost  diadem  of  the  world,  I  have  made 
philosophy  the  lawgiver  of  my  Empire." 

From  the  beginning  of  his  reign  Frederick's  actions 
measured  up  to  his  convictions.  On  the  third  day  after 
his  accession  he  abolished  torture  in  Prussia.  Before 
the  first  year  was  over  he  had  restored  Christian  Wolf 
to  his  chair  in  Halle.  In  the  letter  which  recalled  the 
philosopher  the  king  said  :  "  A  man  who  loves  and  seeks 
the  truth  must  be  held  in  high  esteem  in  all  human 
society,"  a  beautiful  sentiment  which  loses  all  sus- 
picion of  triviality  when  it  is  accompanied  by  appro- 
priate action.  Still  the  king  could  not  long  be  satis- 
fied in  following  a  man  like  Wolf,  who  was  more  of  an 
interpreter  than  an  original  thinker.  Soon  we  find 
him  as  a  student  of  Locke  and  Newton,  Bayle  and 
Voltaire.  The  latter  especially  was  for  him  the  prin- 
cipal prophet  of  the  English  views.  It  is  not  within 
the  scope  of  this  narrative  to  dwell  on  the  personal  re- 
lations of  the  king  and  the  great  Frenchman ;  but 
Voltaire's  name  demands  special  mention,  since  his 
liberal  views  and  progressive  spirit  exercised  the 
greatest  influence,  not  only  on  the  king,  but  on  German 
culture  in  general.  The  king  himself  was  accessible 
to  all  influences  of  the  new  Rationalism  to  such  a  de- 
gree that  he  even  embraced  Freemasonry,  which, 
having  originated  with  English  Deism,  had  found  its 
way  to  Hamburg  in  1733.  In  this  secret  order  all  the 
reformatory  ideas  of  the  period  were  focussed ;  educa- 
tion, popular  culture,  toleration,  and  philanthropy 
were  its  avowed  ideal.  The  order  has  enjoyed  the 


xxxv   THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT     381. 

sympathy,  if  not  the  actual  membership,  of  the  Prus- 
sian kings  ever  since. 

In  harmony  with  all  these  tendencies  was  the  greatest 
act  of  Frederick's  reign  :  the  establishment  in  his  states 
of  Liberty  of  Thought.  It  had  been  proclaimed  again 
and  again  by  the  great  thinkers,  but  more  as  a  philo- 
sophical theorem  than  as  a  practical  measure.  Here, 
at  last,  was  the  philosopher  who  had  the  political  power 
to  make  it  a  reality.  It  is  not  toleration,  not  a  mere 
"suffering"  of  different  creeds,  as  on  the  part  of  Joseph 
II  of  Austria  later,  but  a  recognition,  as  his  now  classi- 
cal phrasing  runs,  that  it  was  the  right  of  every  man 
to  seek  eternal  happiness  after  his  own  fashion  (Jeder 
kann  nach  seiner  Fagon  selig  werderi).  He  was  the 
first,  as  Immanuel  Kant  expresses  it,  to  allow  every- 
body liberty  to  use  his  own  reason  in  questions  of  con- 
science. It  is  a  curious  fact  about  religious  liberty  that 
very  often  those  who  clamor  for  it  most,  as  long  as 
they  feel  oppressed,  are  the  first  to  call  for  coercive 
measures  against  those  of  different  opinion  as  soon  as 
they  are  in  power  themselves.  But  under  Frederick 
the  Great  it  was  different.  In  Prussia  everybody 
might  worship  according  to  his  own  belief  or  not  wor- 
ship at  all;  he  did  not  object  to  Mohammedans  or 
atheists.  He  certainly  cannot  have  been  in  sympathy 
with  the  Jesuits;  but  when  the  Jesuit  order  had  been 
proscribed  in  all  other  European  countries,  and  even 
the  Pope  had  dissolved  it  in  1773,  Frederick  opened 
his  states  to  them  and  gave  them  the  right  to  teach 
in  the  schools.  Although  the  attitude  of  the  Prussian 
government  changed  soon  after  the  death  of  Frederick, 
this  wonderful  lesson  has  not  been  lost  on  the  greater 
part  of  German  society.  The  educated  and  intel- 
lectual element,  supported  by  a  considerable  percentage 


382  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

of  the  people,  maintain  a  continuous  struggle  for  free- 
dom of  thought  and  for  the  principle  that  everybody 
has  a  right  "to  use  his  own  reason  in  questions  of  con- 
science," which  is  so  firmly  established  in  the  German 
mind  that  no  reactionary  efforts  ever  will  uproot  it, 
unless  that  sacred  fort  of  liberty,  the  German  univer- 
sity, should  be  surrendered  to  obscurantism.  Of  all 
countries  only  modern  France  seems  to  enjoy  legal  and 
social  conditions  which  guarantee  liberty  of  conscience. 
Of  more  lasting  influence  and  of  equal  importance 
in  its  own  field  was  the  advance  Frederick  made  in  the 
political  constitution  of  the  state.  It  is  common  to 
characterize  the  system  of  the  great  king  as  "  en- 
lightened despotism,"  but  this  certainly  was  not  the 
conception  of  the  king  himself.  If  despotism  means 
that  there  is  no  law  but  the  will  of  the  monarch,  as  it 
is  expressed  in  the  famous  Uetat  c'est  moi,  then  there 
is  no  difference  between  a  common  and  an  enlightened 
despot,  but  the  rather  casual  fact  that  the  latter  finds 
pleasure  in  promoting  the  welfare  of  his  subjects,  fre- 
quently for  very  selfish  reasons.  Certainly  a  prince 
who  calls  himself  the  servant  of  his  people  and,  what 
is  much  more  decisive,  acts  accordingly  throughout 
his  life  cannot  be  called  a  despot.  But  Frederick  went 
an  important  step  farther :  he  instituted,  in  place  of 
the  absolute  will  of  the  king,  the  reign  of  law;  he  es- 
tablished in  Prussia  what  the  Germans  call  the  "Rechts- 
staat,"  the  state  based  on  law.  Rationalism  had  not 
found  it  inconsistent  with  its  general  principles  to  jus- 
tify absolutism  in  terms  of  the  absolute  power  of  the 
state,  whose  given  representative  is  the  monarch. 
Frederick  was  not  deceived  by  this  opinion.  He  recog- 
nized that  the  state  exists  for  the  sake  of  its  citizens. 
"One  must  be  insane,"  he  says,  "to  imagine  that  men 


xxxv       THE  AGE   OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  383 

should  have  said  to  one  of  their  equals,  'We  will  raise 
you  so  that  we  may  be  your  slaves;  we  will  give  you 
the  power  to  guide  our  thought  according  to  yours.' 
They  rather  said :  '  We  need  you  in  order  that  you 
execute  our  laws,  that  you  show  us  the  way  and  defend 
us.  But  we  understand  that  you  will  respect  our  lib- 
erties."' 

Here,  then,  we  have  the  remarkable  phenomenon  in 
the  time  of  absolutism  of  a  monarch  to  whom  occu- 
pation with  philosophy  and  the  sciences,  instead  of 
being  merely  an  elegant,  intellectual  pastime,  was  a 
search  for  guiding  principles  of  conduct;  who  volun- 
tarily pressed  on  to  the  practical  consequences  of  his 
philosophy,  and  acknowledged  the  inalienable  rights 
of  his  subjects  before  they  had  asked  for  them,  even 
before  they  were  aware  of  them.  He  despised  the 
unlimited  power  of  the  absolute  ruler,  which  at  his  time 
was  worshipfully  acknowledged  all  over  the  continent, 
and  placed  himself  under  the  law  of  the  land  like  the 
humblest  of  his  subjects.  No  wonder  that  this  man, 
wrho  during  every  day  of  his  long  life  gave  proof  of  his 
indefatigable  faithfulness  to  duty,  that  is,  to  the  wel- 
fare of  his  people,  became  the  idol  of  his  tune,  and  in 
spite  of  many  peculiarities  of  character  and  apparent 
inconsistencies,  implanted  his  memory  so  deeply  in  the 
hearts  of  his  own  people  that  four  generations  after  his 
death  he  still  is  lovingly  called  "Old  Fritz"  (der  alte 
Fritz),  more  like  an  intimate  friend  than  one  of  the 
strictest,  most  exacting  rulers  that  ever  lived.  It 
gives  one  a  wonderful  insight  into  the  psychology  of 
the  masses  —  at  least  in  Germany  —  to  see  how 
willingly  they  forgive  their  rulers  hardship  and  severity 
when  they  see  that  they  are  as  exacting  toward  them- 
selves and  willing  to  carry  their  share,  and  more,  of 


384  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

the  common  burden.  It  is  well  to  remember  this 
before  one  wonders  why  an  intelligent,  liberty-loving 
people  like  the  Germans  are  still  monarchists;  and  if 
we  do  not  forget  that  the  example  of  the  king,  as  a  rule, 
is  followed  by  all  the  public  officials,  high  and  subordi- 
nate, as  well  as  by  private  employees,  we  can  under- 
stand somewhat  more  easily  why  bureaucracy  and 
military  superiors  can  take  liberties  with  their  subor- 
dinates, which,  although  often  merely  vexatious,  some- 
times transgress  the  limits  of  human  dignity. 

"The  Rechtsstaat,"  the  state  under  the  law,  easily 
finds  a  parallel  in  the  constitutional  state ;  the  innate 
right  of  the  monarch  conceded,  it  protects  the  indi- 
vidual in  all  his  relations  to  society.  The  inalienable 
rights,  the  liberty  of  the  individual,  are  legally  guaran- 
teed, even  against  the  power  of  state  and  the  bearer 
of  sovereignty;  in  the  light  of  historical  experience 
this  sovereignty  of  the  abstract  state  seems  to  afford 
to  the  individual  in  the  minority  more  protection  than 
the  sovereignty  of  the  people  under  the  representa- 
tive form  of  government,  which  only  too  often  de- 
generates into  a  despotism  of  the  majority. 

The  codification  of  the  laws  was  undertaken  with 
great  care  by  competent  jurists,  but  the  "Codex  Frie- 
dericianus"  was  published  only  after  the  king's  death. 
The  preamble  of  this  code  expresses  the  spirit  of  its 
originator  as  follows:  "The  welfare  of  the  state  and 
its  inhabitants  is  the  object  of  society  and  the  limit  of 
legislation ;  laws  must  limit  the  liberty  and  the  rights 
of  the  citizens  only  in  the  interests  of  general  welfare." 
With  these  principles,  which  had  been  applied  to  a 
certain  degree  already  by  Frederick's  father,  firmly 
settled,  the  French  Revolution  found  only  a  slight 
echo  in  the  greater  part  of  Germany.  It  was  entirely 


xxxv       THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  385 

consistent  with  his  own  legislation  that,  apart  from 
the  French  alliance,  Frederick  the  Great  was  the  first 
monarch  to  acknowledge  the  new  republic  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  and  that  Prussia  was  the 
first  power  to  conclude  a  treaty  with  the  young  nation. 
It  is  likewise  not  astonishing  that  less  brilliant  suc- 
cessors of  Frederick  could  not  see  how  a  constitution 
would  add  to  the  legal  protection  of  their  subjects. 

However,  it  was  not  equality  of  man,  as  we  see  it, 
which  Frederick  guaranteed.  It  is  true  the  king  as 
well  as  the  peasant,  the  nobleman  as  well  as  the  com- 
moner, had  to  obey  the  law,  and  were  equally  pro- 
tected by  the  law.  But  the  law,  in  spite  of  the  many 
new  rights  it  conceded  to  all  citizens  of  the  state,  still 
acknowledged  the  caste-like  separation  of  the  classes. 
The  nobility  retained  its  privileged  position.  It  was 
considered  a  law  of  nature  that  the  noblemen  should 
assist  the  monarch  in  the  administration  of  the  state 
and  as  leaders  of  the  army;  the  peasant  should  culti- 
vate the  field  and  provide  food ;  the  commoner  should 
provide  money  through  industry  and  commerce.  The 
last  was  a  very  important  function  since  Frederick, 
like  most  contemporary  princes,  believed  in  the  "Mer- 
cantile System"  of  economics,  inaugurated  by  Colbert, 
which  found  a  guarantee  for  national  welfare  in  a  well- 
filled  treasury,  in  heaping  up  as  much  gold  and  silver 
as  possible,  and  in  keeping  the  money  in  the  country. 
His  belief  in  this  natural  tripartite  division  of  his  sub- 
jects explains  a  great  many  of  the  king's  actions,  ap- 
parently inconsistent  with  his  principle  of  liberty  and 
justice.  Other  cases  may  be  due  to  his  desire  to  follow 
his  better  insight.  In  his  foreign  politics  his  ambition 
and  longing  for  glory  had  at  least  as  much  influence 
as  the  welfare  of  his  state.  These  considerations  will 

'     2c 


386  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

help  to  judge  his  character,  a  task  not  within  the  scope 
of  this  work.  For  us  his  inability  to  rise  above  these 
survivals  of  a  past  time  has  a  much  more  unfortunate 
significance.  Since  the  Prussian  state  to-day,  in  spite 
of  all  modern  changes,  is  still  under  the  influence  for 
good  and  for  bad  of  the  powerful  personality  and 
traditions  of  Frederick  the  Great,  the  nobility  still 
holds  a  privileged  position,  both  in  the  army  and  cer- 
tain branches  of  the  civil  service,  although  the  law 
abolished  all  class  distinctions  long  ago.  The  belief 
that  noblemen  were  not  born  to  earn  their  own  living, 
but  for  the  knightly  craft  of  handling  arms,  has  lowered 
the  dignity  of  productive  work  for  a  long  time  to  come ; 
their  preference  for  all  leading  positions  in  the  army 
has  made  it  possible,  not  only  socially  but  also  econo- 
mically, to  maintain  their  exclusiveness  and  has  helped 
to  keep  the  educated  classes  in  general,  who  were  the 
next  to  share  the  official  positions,  away  from  the  rest 
of  the  people.  The  military  officer,  however,  still 
holds  the  highest  social  rank  (ist  der  erste  Stand) ; 
and  the  youngest  lieutenant,  with  more  pretentions 
than  education  and  brain,  still  has  precedence  over  a 
famous  professor  who  has  performed  everlasting  ser- 
vices to  mankind.  Frederick  himself  and  his  succes- 
sors were  prevented  for  some  tune  by  this  exalted  posi- 
tion of  the  nobility  from  discontinuing,  as  they  would 
have  liked  to  do,  the  institution  of  serfdom  on  the 
estates  of  the  nobles,  since  the  liberation  of  the  serfs 
would  have  deprived  their  masters  of  the  greater  part 
of  their  income,  which  class  prejudice  would  not  allow 
them  to  supply  by  honest  work.  On  the  royal  es 
tates  all  serfs  had  already  been  liberated  by  Frederick's  . 
father.  Of  course,  their  condition  was  greatly  improved 
everywhere,  since  they  were  otherwise  not  debarred 


xxxv       THE  AGE   OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  387 

from  the  protection  of  the  law.  When  some  Silesian 
peasants  who  wanted  to  hand  the  king  a  petition  tried 
to  kneel  down  before  him,  he  forbade  it  as  unworthy 
of  a  human  being.  When,  on  the  other  hand,  after 
some  reverses  in  war  patriotic  peasants  in  one  of  his 
provinces  formed  a  volunteer  corps,  observing  that 
from  a  similar  body  on  the  enemy's  side  the  king  had 
suffered  great  damage,  they  were  severely  reprimanded 
and  sent  home  in  disgrace,  since  "they  were  born  for 
the  plow  and  not  for  the  sword." 

Advanced  as  Frederick  was  in  some  respects,  he 
still  wore  some  of  the  fetters  of  tradition;  even  his 
religious  broadness,  so  justly  praised,  had  apparently 
one  exception  :  it  did  not  extend  to  the  Jews.  His 
objections  to  their  increase,  however,  were  not  religious 
but  economic.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
when  the  commerce  of  the  cities  began  to  flourish  and 
the  Christian  merchants  began  to  feel  the  business  com- 
petition of  the  Jews,  the  latter  had  been  entirely  ex- 
pelled from  a  great  many  German  cities.  The  cruel 
persecutions  of  the  Jews  became  gradually  less  frequent ; 
one  of  the  last  took  place  in  1614.  The  Great  Elector 
had  admitted  them  to  his  dominions.  About  1700  the 
condition  of  the  Jews  had  greatly  improved.  We  find 
them  in  great  favor  with  the  princes,  with  many  of 
whom  the  financial  Jew  (der  Geldj^de)  becomes  a 
standing  institution.  The  first  king  of  Prussia  gave 
the  Jewish  rabbis  the  privilege  of  wearing  a  sword. 
However,  they  were  far  from  free ;  they  still  had  to 
pay  their  body  tax  (Leibzoll)  for  special  protection. 
Frederick  the  Great  did  not  suppress  them,  but,  as  has 
been  said,  did  not  want  them  to  increase  in  number. 
The  most  illustrious  Jew  under  his  reign  was  Moses 
Mendelssohn,  well  known  as  one  of  the  popular  philos- 


388  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

ophers  of  the  period  of  Enlightenment.  He  was  the 
clerk  of  a  merchant,  and  according  to  the  state  of  things 
could  not  be  a  citizen  in  his  own  right,  but  was  in  a 
certain  sense  in  bondage  to  his  master.  When  he  tried 
to  get  his  freedom,  the  king  refused.  Then  it  was  that 
the  French  philosopher,  D'Alembert,  President  of  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Berlin,  and  a  personal  friend  of 
Frederick,  wrote  that  remarkable  note  which  served 
its  purpose:  "A  philosopher  who  is  a  bad  Catholic 
writes  to  a  philosopher  who  is  a  bad  Protestant,  on 
behalf  of  a  philosopher  who  is  a  bad  Jew."  D'Alem- 
bert surely  was  a  bad  Catholic,  and  Frederick  not  a 
very  good  Protestant,  but  in  one  respect  the  clever 
note  was  mistaken :  Mendelssohn  was  not  a  bad  Jew. 
He  remained  faithful  to  his  creed.  While  the  detail 
of  his  work  belongs  to  the  history  of  literature,  one 
thing  Mendelssohn  accomplished  of  great  importance  in 
the  progress  of  German  culture,  he  taught  the  Jews 
in  Germany  to  become  Germans.  Up  to  that  time 
German  had  been  almost  a  foreign  language  to  them. 
He  taught  them  that  they  should  take  part  in  the  life 
of  the  nation.  His  book,  "Jerusalem,"  in  which  he 
tried  to  introduce  his  people  to  European  culture,  was 
published  in  1782.  Already,  two  years  before  that 
time,  the  first  book  leading  to  the  final  emancipation 
of  the  Jews  had  been  brought  out.  This  book,  which 
marks  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  human  progress,  bore 
the  title,  "On  the  Civil  Improvement  of  the  Jews" 
(Ueber  die  biirgerliche  Verbesserung  der  Juderi).  It  was 
written  by  Dohm,  who  had  made  extensive  investiga- 
tions at  the  instance  of  certain  German  princes. 

Political  events,  especially  wars,  find  little  attention 
in  this  book  unless  they  have  a  direct  bearing  on  na- 
tional development,  of  which  the  increase  or  decrease 


xxxv       THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  389 

of  territory  in  itself  does  not  form  necessarily  an  im- 
portant part.  But  the  Seven  Years'  War,  though  its 
victories  and  defeats,  marches  and  countermarches, 
conquests  and  losses,  martial  glory,  bloodshed,  and 
devastations  do  not  vary  materially  from  the  experi- 
ences of  other  wars,  was  important,  not  only  in  its  effect 
on  the  Germans  and  their  contemporaries,  but  also 
because  it  showed  what  a  well-disciplined  army  can 
do  under  good  leadership.  Prussia,  which  in  popula- 
tion held  the  thirteenth  place  in  Europe,  not  only  held 
its  own  without  an  ally  against  all  the  great  powers  of 
Europe,  but  came  out  conqueror.  This  lesson  has  not 
been  forgotten  by  the  Germans  of  to-day,  who,  much 
more  favorably  situated  than  Frederick  was,  and  hav- 
ing his  example  before  them,  trust  in  their  strength 
to  work  out  their  own  destiny,  not  scorning  alliances 
with  their  rivals,  but  feeling  confident  that  their  own 
unity  cannot  be  rent  asunder  by  any  outward  foe. 

Another  political  event  which  is  the  source  of  one 
of  the  greatest  problems  of  modern  Germany,  espe- 
cially Prussia,  is  the  Partition  of  Poland.  It  is  not  our 
place  to  examine  the  justice  of  the  act.  Frederick  had 
his  choice :  either  to  see  the  whole  of  Poland  fall  into 
the  hands  of  Russia,  thus  increasing  her  power,  with- 
out any  equivalent  to  offset  it,  and  more  than  that,  to 
give  up  forever  all  hope  of  uniting  its  separated  eastern 
and  western  provinces ;  to  place  Prussia  completely 
at  the  mercy  of  a  powerful  neighbor  wedged  in  be- 
tween his  possessions ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  to  partake 
in  the  injustice  he  could  not  prevent,  by  appropriating 
a  share  of  the  booty.  The  conditions  in  Poland  cer- 
tainly invited  interference ;  persecutions  of  Germans 
and  Protestants  had  been  of  frequent  occurrence  ;  many 
cities  founded  by  the  German  colonists  had  decayed 


390  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

under  the  Polish  rule,  and  the  fields  lay  waste.  Before 
the  final  conclusion  of  the  first  treaty  Frederick  had 
commissioned  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  teachers 
in  his  new  possessions,  and  had  begun  to  construct  a 
canal  which  created  a  waterway  from  the  Vistula  to 
the  Oder  through  one  of  the  latter's  tributaries,  the 
Netze.  There  is  no  doubt  that  Prussian  Poland  has 
derived  great  economical  and  cultural  advantages  from 
her  connection  with  the  state  of  Frederick  the  Great. 
Still,  the  Poles  have  resisted  all  efforts  at  amalgamation, 
and  to-day  their  sense  of  nationality  seems  to  be  stronger 
than  ever;  their  increase  in  number  and  prosperity 
makes  their  presence  in  the  German  body  politic  a 
serious  menace  to  healthy  development. 

During  the  long  years  of  peace  Frederick  could  de- 
vote all  his  energies  to  healing  the  wounds  of  war,  and 
to  executing  his  plans  for  the  welfare  and  elevation  of 
his  subjects.  He  perfected  the  organization  of  the 
army  and  of  the  civil  service,  paying  attention  to  the 
smallest  details ;  the  whole  administration  worked  like 
a  perfectly  constructed  machine  of  which  his  master 
spirit  was  the  motive  power.  The  king  himself  be- 
came more  and  more  lonesome.  His  occupation  with 
science  and  art  formed  his  only  recreation  and  made 
him  forget  the  disappointments  of  his  heart ;  for  he  was 
not  exempt  from  the  emotional  current  which  pervaded 
his  time,  in  spite  of  all  restraint  of  reason,  Lessing  also 
being  subject  to  it.  He  still  found  his  aesthetic  sense 
satisfied  with  French  classicism  and  had  no  eye  for 
the  rising  culture  of  his  own  nation.  Nevertheless 
he  knew  his  own  people  well  enough  to  feel  assured 
that  they  would  in  time  surpass  others  in  the  ideal 
pursuits  of  man,  although  he  was  not  conscious  that  he 
himself  had  helped  to  start  the  wonderful  flight  of 


xxxv       THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  391 

German  Idealism.  While  he  seemed  to  have  no  per- 
sonal friend  and  his  high  officials  felt  uncomfortable 
in  his  presence,  his  people  idolized  him.  Day  after 
day  when  he  returned  from  his  round  of  duties  he  was 
received  on  the  streets  of  Berlin  with  the  ovations 
granted  to  a  triumphant  hero.  But  he  who  had  ears 
to  listen  would  discover  in  the  joyful  shouting  an  un- 
dertone of  pity  for  his  loneliness  and  of  regret  that 
he  would  not  open  his  heart  to  receive  their  admiring 
affections. 

The  great  king  had  no  successor  worthy  of  him. 
The  irony  of  fate  placed  on  the  throne  after  the  greatest 
of  the  Hohenzollerns  the  weakest  and  meanest.  Dur- 
ing the  later  years  of  Frederick's  reign  Berlin  had  al- 
ready acquired  an  unenviable  reputation  for  immorality. 
The  new  king,  Frederick  William  II,  certainly  fitted 
in  such  surroundings.  As  to  the  wonderful  organiza- 
tion of  the  administrative  body,  it  continued  to  function 
mechanically,  but  where  the  genius  of  the  great  king 
once  had  been  the  ruling  spirit,  now  schematism  and 
bureaucratism  gained  control. 

Absolute  liberty  of  thought  came  to  an  end  with 
the  life  of  Frederick.  The  new  king,  like  many  liber- 
tines, opened  his  ear  to  bigoted  councillors.  But  the 
spirit  of  public  opinion  had  gained  sufficient  strength 
by  that  time  to  make  the  new  minister,  Wollner,  with- 
draw the  intolerant  Religionsedikt  after  trying  in  vain 
to  enforce  it. 

Bureaucratism  and  schematism,  the  natural  com- 
plements of  the  virtues  of  Frederick's  statecraft,  have, 
together  with  all  the  great  creations  of  the  unforgotten 
king,  come  down  to  our  days  only  too  eager  to  assume 
control  when  the  genial  spirit  is  lacking,  as  Prussia 
has  experienced  to  her  sorrow  more  than  once;  while 


392        HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION    CHAP,  xxxv 

the  glory  of  his  victorious  army  hides  in  its  inheritance 
another  sinister  complement  in  the  shape  of  militarism, 
—  all  three  useful  servants  when  properly  subdued, 
but  enemies  of  progress,  liberty,  and  highest  culture 
whenever  they  gain  supremacy. 


CHAPTER   XXXVI 

THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT 
III 

Strengthening  of  National  Feeling.    Improvements. 
Imitators 

THE  personality  of  Frederick  the  Great  must  have 
contributed  not  a  little  to  make  Rationalism  the  popu- 
lar philosophy  with  the  progressive  part  of  the  nation ; 
and  probably  because,  as  I  have  pointed  out,  this  Ger- 
man Enlightenment  was  distinguished  from  the  same 
movement  in  England  and  France  by  its  greater  reli- 
giosity, it  spread  more  than  in  the  other  countries  among 
the  people  in  general.  The  natural  result  was  a  gen- 
eral rise  in  the  intellectual  activities  through  the  fre- 
quent discussion  of  the  problems  involved,  so  that 
Rationalism  must  be  considered  an  important  factor, 
in  a  certain  sense,  in  raising  popular  education. 

We  have  seen  that  with  the  rise  of  Frederick  the 
Great  the  Germans  began  once  more  to  feel  themselves 
a  nation ;  the  first  germs  appear  of  that  longing  for 
unity,  that  craving  which  has  been  at  the  bottom  of  all 
great  political  movements  in  Germany  from  this  time 
to  1870 ;  and  Frederick  strengthened  his  small  state  of 
Prussia  so  that  it  was  able,  or  rather  he  laid  the  founda- 
tion on  which  it  was  to  become  able  later  on,  to  be  the 
instrument  of  bringing  about  this  unity.  This  does  not 
mean,  however,  that  Frederick  himself  had  any  further 

393 


394  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

thought  than  his  own  glory  and  the  welfare  of  his  own 
state.  It  is  during  his  reign,  then,  that  we  first  find  the 
beginning  of  political  interest  in  the  German  people 
and  that  the  first  political  writings  appear  in  Germany 
written  by  German  scholars.  I  mention  only  Justus 
Moeser  and  Schloezer,  whose  books  may  still  be  read 
with  interest. 

The  political  ideal,  the  object  of  the  state  as  it 
appeared  to  the  German  Rationalists,  was  the  assurance 
of  the  greatest  possible  measure  of  happiness  to  every 
individual,  protection  against  foreign  enemies,  quiet 
in  the  interior.  Liberty  meant  for  them  freedom  of 
property,  freedom  to  choose  one's  own  avocation  and 
means  of  livelihood.  The  state  whose  power  was  as 
absolute  as  that  of  any  despot  might  even  use  compul- 
sion to  make  its  subject  accept  its  own,  i.e.,  the  govern- 
ment's, conception  of  happiness.  As  the  existing  condi- 
tions were  thought  to  be  the  result  of  reason  and  there 
was  a  total  lack  of  historical  sense,  nobody  thought  of 
making  a  radical  change.  The  idea  of  a  representa- 
tive government  was  not  dreamed  of,  the  less  so  as  the 
ruling  dynasties  with  few  exceptions  were  willing  to  do 
their  duty  and  the  Rechtsstaat  was  gradually  replac- 
ing absolutism. 

On  the  whole,  the  ideal  of  the  German  middle  class 
was  a  quiet  life,  so  beautifully  pictured  in  Goethe's 
"  Hermann  und  Dorothea."  But  one  thing  is  clear, 
everywhere  the  stagnation  brought  about  by  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  which  lasted  nearly  one  hundred 
years,  had  passed.  Streets  were  improved  and  canals 
built.  Out  of  the  shop  of  the  craftsmen  industry  was 
slowly  developing.  At  first  we  see  the  development  of 
the  home  industries,  where  many  families  are  employed 
by  one  contractor.  A  famous  example  of  this  class  is 


xxxvi      THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  395 

the  great  textile  factory  in  Kalwe,  which  employed  over 
six  thousand  people,  not  in  one  establishment,  but  in 
their  own  homes.  There  was  progress  on  all  sides,  and 
great  inventions  and  discoveries  were  made.  Perhaps 
the  greatest  of  them  was  the  discovery  by  Markgraf 
that  beets  contained  sugar  which  could  be  crystallized, 
although  it  was  fifty  years  before  the  discovery  bore 
practical  results  and  the  erection  of  the  first  beet  sugar 
factory  in  Berlin  started  a  new  and  important  industry. 
In  1743  the  first  fire  department  in  Germany  was  estab- 
lished in  the  city  of  Barmen.  The  first  industrial 
school  was  opened  in  Braunschweig  in  1745.  Twenty 
years  later  the  first  commercial  school  was  established 
in  Hamburg. 

German  science  prepared  to  take  the  position  it  holds 
to-day,  still  following  the  lead  of  France  and  England. 
The  field  of  chemistry  was  greatly  enlarged.  In  medi- 
cine we  hear  of  the  first  electric  treatment  of  a  paralytic 
stroke  by  Kratzenstein.  The  treatment  of  the  insane 
was  more  humane.  Zimmermann  was  the  first  to 
remove  the  secrecy  and  mystery  surrounding  the 
medical  profession  which  had  been  such  an  encourage- 
ment to  quacks.  Albrecht  von  Haller  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  experimental  physiology.  The  establishment 
of  geology  by  Werner  has  already  been  mentioned  in 
another  connection.  To  continue  this  enumeration 
would  take  too  much  space.  The  rise  of  German 
science  already  began  to  find  recognition  abroad,  for 
science  is  international.  The  English  Parliament  made 
a  donation  to  the  heirs  of  Tobias  Meyer,  who  had 
discovered  that  the  stars  moved  and  published  the  first 
correct  tables  of  the  movements  of  the  moon.  The 
natural  sciences  began  to  take  a  systematic  interest 
in  technological  questions.  Scientific  periodicals  were 


396  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

published,  and  found  support  in  the  educated  middle 
classes,  so  that  before  the  end  of  the  century  they 
numbered  not  less  than  twenty. 

The  example  of  Frederick  the  Great  influenced  all 
other  monarchs  of  Europe.  They  all  commenced  to 
take  their  duties  more  seriously  and  tried  to  imitate  the 
great  king  with  more  or  less  success.  The  best  known 
of  his  imitators  and  admirers  was  Joseph  II,  the  son  of 
Maria  Theresa,  Frederick's  greatest  enemy.  Several 
reasons  combined  to  prevent  his  efforts  to  introduce 
Frederician  reforms  into  his  Austrian  crown-lands. 
While  with  Frederick  the  liberty  of  thought  was  merely 
a  matter  of  conviction,  a  question  of  justice,  Joseph  II 
was  not  quite  unselfish  in  giving  out  his  "Toleration 
Edict"  (Tolerationspatent) ;  he  had  political  ends  in 
view. 

The  great  aim  of  his  reign  was  the  Germanization  of 
the  twelve  different  nationalities  united  under  the 
Austrian  crown ;  he  foresaw  conditions  as  we  observe 
them  to-day,  when  at  times  there  seems  to  be  danger 
of  a  dissolution  of  the  Habsburg  Empire.  But  he  was 
not  a  man  of  sufficient  energy  and  persistency  to  accom- 
plish such  a  difficult  task.  Difficulties  discouraged 
him.  Thus  he  tried  to  break  the  power  of  the  Roman 
Church  in  his  territories.  He  closed  about  seven  thou- 
sand monasteries  and  convents,  and  gave  liberty  to 
thirty  thousand  monks  and  nuns;  but  twenty-seven 
thousand  remained  in  thirteen  hundred  convents. 
Thus,  while  he  had  offended  the  faithful  Catholics,  and 
especially  the  clergy,  he  did  not  push  matters  to  such  a 
point  as  to  derive  the  advantages  he  wanted  to  secure 
by  this  policy.  He  stopped  halfway ;  so  it  was  with 
almost  everything. 

The  tendencies  of  the  times  as  they  found  expression 


xxxvi      THE  AGE  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT          397 

in  Pietism  and  Rationalism  made  themselves  very 
distinctly  felt,  not  only  in  the  Protestant,  but  also  in  the 
Catholic  Church.  The  Pope's  position  had  already 
greatly  lost  in  importance  under  the  influence  of  French 
politics;  it  was  the  consequence  of  Rationalism  that 
the  Jesuits,  the  strongest  support  of  the  papal  power, 
were  expelled  from  every  country  except  Prussia,  and 
that  their  order  was  dissolved  by  the  Pope  himself. 
A  new  impetus  was  given  to  endeavors  to  reunite  the 
Protestant  and  Catholic  churches,  a  favorite  idea  of 
Leibnitz.  The  increased  longing  for  liberty  of  thought 
matured  another  attempt  to  give  a  national  character 
to  the  German  Catholic  Church.  Indeed,  that  was  all 
Luther  had  aimed  at  in  the  beginning  of  his  career. 
The  German  archbishops  were  encouraged  in  this 
movement  by  the  policy  of  Joseph  II  and  came  at  last 
to  an  agreement,  the  so-called  "Emser  Punktation" 
hi  1786.  The  principal  points  (Punkte)  settled  hi  this 
instrument  were  the  following : 

The  Pope  was  still  to  remain  the  highest  supervisor 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  but  his  prerogatives,  based  on 
the  Pseudo-Isidorian  Decretals,  were  to  be  abolished : 
there  should  be  no  appeal  to  Rome  over  the  head  of  the 
bishops;  the  religious  orders  were  not  to  accept  any 
rulings  from  foreign  superiors ;  a  national  council  was 
to  regulate  the  affairs  of  the  German  Church.  But 
the  dissent  of  the  bishops  and  the  wavering  policy  of 
Joseph  II  again  caused  these  efforts  to  come  to  naught. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 


GERMAN   IDEALISM 


Reaction    against    Rationalism.      Gellert.      Klopstock. 
Storm   and  Stress.     Lessing.     Winckelmann.      Herder 

No  matter  how  brilliantly  the  success  of  Rationalism 
at  the  time  of  Frederick  the  Great  shone  forth,  it 
could  not  prevent  a  feeling  of  dissatisfaction.  People 
could  not  forget  that  reason  was  not  all,  that  there  was 
a  heart.  We  know  how  the  culture  of  the  heart  had 
been  fostered  by  Pietism;  how  the  reaction  against 
Rationalism  brought  renewed  vigor  to  sentimentalism, 
which  grew  to  such  proportions  as  to  take  almost  the 
character  of  an  epidemic,  at  least  to  modern  eyes. 
Tears  were  shed  freely  by  everybody,  for  everything, 
on  every  occasion.  If  people  took  leave  of  each  other 
for  a  couple  of  hours,  they  wept;  if  they  met  again, 
they  wept ;  if  they  saw  a  beautiful  sunset,  they  wept ; 
when  a  young  man  saw  his  sweetheart,  he  wept,  and, 
of  course,  she  wept  too ;  in  short,  certain  parts  of  the 
social  world  were  swimming  in  tears,  and  this  flood 
lasted  into  the  second  and  third  decades  of  the  last 
century.  In  literature  the  books  that  brought  tears 
to  the  eyes  of  the  readers  were  those  most  in  demand. 
The  exchange  of  sentimental  letters  flourished  more 
than  ever  —  in  reading  letters  of  that  period  one  can- 
not avoid  a  suspicion  of  insincerity;  in  spite  of  all 

398 


CHAP,  xxxvii  GERMAN  IDEALISM  399 

emotional  affectation  the  simplest  private  letter  often 
looks  as  if  written  for  publication. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  greater  approach  to  nature 
continued  to  be  noticeable,  along  with  an  increase  of 
English  influence  both  on  the  mode  of  life  and  on  literary 
taste.  The  number  of  German  periodicals  composed 
after  English  models  amounted  to  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The 
books  of  Young  and  Richardson  were  very  popular. 
"The  Vicar  of  Wakefield"  was  widely  read,  and  the 
writings  of  Lawrence  Sterne  were  in  great  demand. 

For  the  development  of  German  thought  the  most 
important  books  were,  perhaps,  as  we  shall  see  later, 
Percy's  "Relics  of  Ancient  English  Poetry,"  and 
Macpherson's  "Ossian,"  at  that  time  believed  to  be 
wholly  genuine. 

The  change  to  the  English  fashion  in  dress  and  the 
subdued  colors  favored  by  Pietism  seem  to  have  been 
the  last  great  change  in  men's  apparel.  While  formerly 
all  great  movements  found  their  external  expression  in 
the  fashion  of  dressing,  it  seems  now  that  the  whims  of 
tailors  and  social  leaders  or  the  needs  of  manufacturers 
are  the  only  arbiters  in  question  of  fashion  in  dress. 

The  reaction  against  the  absolute  and  undivided  rule 
of  reason  did  not,  of  course,  make  an  end  of  Rational- 
ism all  at  once.  It  produced  a  combination  of  ration- 
alistic and  sentimentalistic  elements  which  has  been 
characterized  as  "reasonable  piety,"  connecting  senti- 
mentality and  a  sympathetic  heart  with  a  practical 
way  of  thinking,  having  profit  and  happiness  for  its 
ends,  advocating  education  without  dogmatic  influ- 
ences. It  is  a  type  we  have  seen  most  perfectly  repre- 
sented in  America  by  Benjamin  Franklin.  In  Germany 
the  great  example  of  this  new  life  was  given  by  Gellert, 


400  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

a  man  of  the  most  amiable  qualities.  His  writings,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  fables  and  other  selections  in 
school  readers,  are  not  read  to-day.  To  us  he  certainly 
does  not  appear  inspiring,  yet  he  was  the  ideal  of  his 
countrymen  during  his  lifetime.  They  preferred  him 
to  the  cold,  intellectual  greatness  that  has  nothing  to 
offer  to  the  heart. 

Although  Gellert  does  not  hold  a  very  high  place  in 
literary  history,  he  is,  on  account  of  his  personal 
popularity,  of  the  greatest  importance  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  German  people.  He  represents  more  than 
a  certain  tendency  in  literature,  he  stands  for  a  phi- 
losophy, a  theory  of  life  which,  shallow,  as  it  was  in  its 
utilitarian  optimism,  still  meant  a  step  forward  towards 
German  Idealism.  His  piety  was  not  that  of  the  ortho- 
dox, but  he  felt  God  in  his  own  heart  and  saw  Him  in 
the  surrounding  life  of  man  and  nature.  This  concep- 
tion of  religion  as  an  inner  experience  was  welcomed 
by  a  generation  that  had  turned  away  from  the  dogma- 
tism of  the  churches,  but  did  not  find  its  religious  crav- 
ings satisfied  by  a  philosophy  which  created  everything 
out  of  reason.  Gellert  was  sought  by  high  and  low; 
he  was  the  only  German  writer  whose  merits  were 
recognized  by  Frederick  the  Great.  His  extensive 
correspondence  with  representatives  of  all  classes,  with 
old  and  young,  with  men  and  women,  give  an  idea  of 
how  far  his  serene,  virtuous  theory  of  life  had  pene- 
trated the  whole  nation,  and  it  shows  at  the  same  time 
how  deep-rooted  and  general  was  the  desire  for  educa- 
tion and  improvement. 

Gellert  was,  in  his  way,  as  much  adored  as  Frederick 
of  Prussia.  The  saying  was  that  "to  believe  in  Gellert, 
religion,  and  virtue,  is  one  and  the  same  thing  for  our 
public."  Although  this  plain,  unpretentious  commoner 


xxxvii  GERMAN  IDEALISM  401 

commanded  a  remarkably  respectful  hearing  on  the 
part  of  the  exclusive  classes  of  nobility,  and  the  aged 
were  also  eager  to  learn  from  his  words,  still  his  greatest 
admirers  were  found  among  the  poor  and  the  young. 
He  was  idolized  especially  by  the  women,  in  whose 
natural,  original,  incorrupted  emotions  he  saw  the 
strongest  support  for  improvements. 

If  these  movements  were  really  popular,  not  in  the 
sense  of  a  passing  fashion,  but  of  actually  taking  hold  of 
the  national  soul,  they  had  of  necessity  to  manifest  their 
force  likewise  in  art,  which  in  Germany  took  that  partic- 
ular form  which  seems  most  adapted  to  express  the 
innermost  feeling  of  the  soul,  that  is,  music.  Thus  while 
Gluck  and  Haydn  were  putting  an  end  to  Italian  influ- 
ences, and  by  their  noble  simplicity  were  preparing  for 
the  great  classics,  we  find  a  new  German  Lied,  akin 
to  the  Volkslied,  sung  within  the  house,  in  the  family 
circle,  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  spinet  or  the  piano. 
Love  and  friendship  are  its  favorite  objects.  But  the 
sentimental  trend  of  the  times  found  here  immediate 
and  untrammelled  expression.  "Adagios,  soft  as 
butter,"  says  a  German  writer,  "make  the  soul  melt 
in  emotion." 

There  was  another  kind  of  protest  against  the  suprem- 
acy of  reason  which  is  found  in  Germany  not  less  than 
in  the  more  advanced  countries.  It  is  that  love  for 
and  belief  in  everything  mysterious  to  which  Free- 
masonry owes  a  part  of  its  success,  and  which  makes 
the  period  of  flourishing  Rationalism,  in  curious  contra- 
diction, the  harvest  time  of  the  representatives  of  all 
kinds  of  occult  knowledge  and  of  those  great  interna- 
tional swindlers  of  whom  Count  Cagliostro  is  the  most 
famous  type. 

With   Gellert    began    that   new   conception    which 

29 


402  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

teaches  the  individual  that  it  does  not  exist  alone,  that 
it  needs,  response  from  other  souls  for  its  own  healthy 
growth,  when  the  personality  feels  the  desire  to  express, 
to  manifest  itself  in  subjective  action  on  other  things  or 
persons.  It  is  from  this  period  that  the  line  of  great 
German  thinkers  and  authors  took  its  start. 

In  this  series  we  first  meet  Klopstock,  who  is  in  close 
touch  with  all  the  different  currents  of  his  time,  as 
already  described;  he  helps  to  lay  the  foundations  of 
the  modern  theory  of  life,  at  the  basis  of  which  is  a  new 
viewpoint,  or  rather  sentiment,  which  has  been  called 
the  "  German  Religion."  For  it  may  be  said,  with  the 
proper  limitations  governing  all  general  statements, 
that  all  German  thinkers,  or  even  all  educated  Germans, 
no  matter  what  their  religious  adherence,  whether  they 
are  Catholics,  Protestants,  or  Jews,  or  even  Free-thinkers 
or  Atheists,  have  something  common  in  their  point  of 
view,  something  which  has  grown  out  of  the  current 
just  setting  in,  which  in  Germany  is  comprised  under  the 
name  of  "German  Idealism."  Klopstock  is  the  first 
greater  writer  who  again  feels  his  nationality,  the  first 
to  express  real  patriotism  hi  German  poems.  His 
poems  show  his  religious  culture,  his  heart,  his  love  of 
nature.  He  is  the  first  in  modern  literature  to  show 
historical  sense,  a  sense  for  the  fact  that  things  have 
grown,  that  present  conditions  are  the  outcome  of  former 
development. 

He  was  followed  by  Wieland,  who  gave  the  German 
language  to  some  extent  that  ease  of  motion  and  ele- 
gance which  seem  to  be  a  monopoly  of  the  French 
writers.  He  introduces  his  countrymen  to  the  greatness 
of  Shakespeare. 

At  last  appears  Lessing,  the  emancipator  of  art  from 
the  rule  of  French  Classicism.  He  shows  that  the 


xxxvn  GERMAN  IDEALISM  403 

French  have  misunderstood  the  Greeks,  whom  they 
claim  to  follow,  and  tries  to  learn  from  the  Greeks  them- 
selves instead  of  their  imitators.  But  he  does  not 
simply  give  up  the  dependence  on  the  French  to  exchange 
it  for  a  dependence  on  the  Greeks ;  he  does  not  follow 
Aristotle  to  the  letter,  but  he  studies  his  theories  with 
a  critical  mind.  He  points  out  the  limits  of  the  differ- 
ent arts,  and  destroys  that  prejudice  of  the  rationalistic 
theory  that  it  is  possible  for  anybody  to  learn  how  to 
make  a  poem,  a  picture,  or  a  statue,  by  following  closely 
the  rules  laid  down  in  books,  that  these  arts  are  simply 
the  result  of  a  rational  technology,  the  same  as  the  work 
of  any  craftsman.  In  short,  he  opens  the  eyes  of  his 
countrymen  to  a  new  conception  of  art,  shows  them 
true  art.  It  was  the  same  idea  which  had  revealed 
itself  to  his  contemporary,  Winckelmann,  in  his  study 
of  the  original  works  of  Greek  sculpture.  Not  less 
impo'rtant  is  Lessing's  leadership  in  other  fields.  He 
discovers  and  follows  up  the  idea  of  a  critical  study  of 
the  development  of  history.  He  proclaimed  the  theory 
of  true  toleration,  as  Frederick  had  established  it  in  his 
state.  His  " Nathan  the  Wise"  is  one  of  the  great 
educational  works  of  the  world.  In  much  more  con- 
scious and  definite  manner  than  Luther  he  places 
morality  on  man's  own  judgment ;  he  teaches  that  our 
heart  must  tell  us  whether  we  do  right  or  not.  He 
draws,  indeed,  the  ultimate  conclusions  of  Rationalism, 
but  in  doing  so,  grows  beyond  it.  For  him,  language, 
religion,  morality,  and  state  are  inventions,  not  of 
reason,  but  of  creative  genius.  With  Lessing  and  his 
new  views  we  have  the  beginning  of  the  movement 
against  the  teleological  theory  of  life,  whicfe  claims  that 
every  being  and  every  one  is  made  for  a  certain  rational 
purpose  outside  of  itself  or  himself.  By  all  these  dif- 


404  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

ferent  ideas  Lessing  foreshadows  the  greatest  Germans, 
the  greatest  representatives  of  German  Idealism,  and 
Scherer,  in  his  " History  of  German  Literature,"  calls 
him  "the  first  truly  free  man,  artist,  and  thinker  in  Ger- 
many, full  of  spontaneous  breadth  and  patriotic  warmth, 
republican  fearlessness  and  monarchical  discipline." 

Of  those  who  developed  Lessing's  idea  Herder  must 
be  mentioned  in  first  place.  Lessing  and  Winckelmann 
have  taught  that  art  was  not  the  product  of  technical 
regulations,  but  the  spontaneous  expressions  of  inner- 
most feelings.  This  common  foundation  of  all  art  is  em- 
phasized by  Herder.  He  develops  already  the  idea  of 
the  universal  art  we  are  used  to  connect  with  the  name 
of  Richard  Wagner,  who  wanted  to  give  us  in  the  work 
of  art  of  the  future  a  union  of  all  the  different  arts  in 
one  production.  Herder,  under  the  influence  of  Percy, 
calls  attention  to  the  popular  songs,  the  Volkslieder. 
In  his  work  Stimmen  der  Voelker  (Voices  of  the 
Nations)  he  called  them  the  outflow  of  the  Volks- 
seele,  a  word  coined  by  him,  meaning  "national 
soul."  He  dwells  on  the  unity  of  the  universe,  on  the 
conception  that  nature  is  one  unit  of  which  man  forms 
only  a  part,  ideas  coming  down  from  Spinoza  and 
Lessing ;  but  the  idea  which  stands  forth  most  promi- 
nently in  his  theory  of  life  is  this,  that  the  individual 
man  is  one  with  all  humanity.  Here  is  the  source  of 
his  conception  of  history  which  was  to  lead  to  the  idea 
of  evolution.  Much  more  than  Lessing,  or,  before  him, 
the  Italian  Vico,  he  succeeds  in  establishing  the  idea 
that  history  is  an  organic  development ;  and  Immanuel 
Kant,  the  great  German  philosopher,  makes  the  same 
idea  the  foundation  of  his  theory  of  the  universe. 
This  idea  of  organic  growth  is  one  of  the  most  fruitful 
ideas  of  modern  times;  it  has  been  called  "the"  Ger- 


xxxvn  GERMAN  IDEALISM  405 

man  idea.  The  end  of  all  historical  development  is  the 
creation  and  manifestation  of  the  complete  man,  the 
ideal  towards  which  we  all  must  strive,  pure  humanity, 
reine  Menschlichkeit. 

The  influence  of  Herder,  not  only  in  Germany,  but 
also  in  Europe,  was  great  and  lasting.  His  disciples 
were  not  only  the  great  scientists  in  Germany,  as  her 
great  philologists  led  by  F.  A.  Wolf,  her  great  historians 
as  Niebuhr  and  Eichhorn,  the  two  Humboldts,  the  two 
Grimms,  and  numerous  others ;  but  in  England  Burke, 
who  in  his  turn  influenced  a  later  generation  of  Germans, 
Carlisle,  Darwin,  Coleridge,  and  others  may  be  counted 
among  his  followers,  while  in  France  men  like  Benjamin 
Constant,  Thierry,  Guizot,  De  Tocqueville,  Renan, 
and  Taine  belong  to  his  school.  His  influence  reaches 
down  directly  to  our  own  days. 

In  the  meantime  the  heart  claimed  its  rights  more 
and  more  urgently,  both  against  tradition  and  cold 
reason ;  the  will  of  the  sovereign  individual  found  itself 
hampered  on  all  sides ;  nature  appeared  to  be  fettered 
by  human  institutions ;  the  narrowness  of  the  reality 
left  no  room  for  the  expansion  of  the  ideal.  The  result- 
ing unrest  of  this  rebellious  spirit  found  its  expression  in 
what  is  known  as  the  "Storm  and  Stress  Period" 
(Sturm  und  Drang).  It  is  here  that  the  change  from 
individualism  to  subjectivism,  as  Lamprecht  calls  it, 
finds  its  first  powerful  expression,  and  its  representatives 
were  the  young  authors  in  Germany  who  found  their 
teacher  in  the  French  Swiss,  J.  J.  Rousseau.  Rousseau 
was  still  strongly  under  the  influence  of  Rationalism. 
For  him  the  nation  was  only  a  conglomeration  of 
individuals  bound  together  by  a  silent  contract  for  the 
purpose  of  protection  and  justice.  He  was  the  first  to 
believe  in  the  mass  of  the  people. 


406  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

In  his  opinion  society  was,  to  use  his  own  expression, 
the  added  sum  of  the  individuals  who  compose  it ;  for 
him  the  will  of  the  majority  was  the  rule  of  absolute 
reason,  a  theory  still  held  by  a  great  many  people, 
especially  in  the  United  States.  No  freedom  and 
equality  can  be  found  outside  of  the  state  absolutism, 
philosophically  founded,  which  is  the  outcome  of  the 
monarchial  absolutism  of  the  preceding  century. 

In  regard  to  our  subject,  however,  it  is  more  impor- 
tant that  Rousseau  was  most  eloquent  in  preaching  a 
return  to  nature.  "He  opened  up  the  deep  life  of  the 
soul  and  showed  its  value,  advocating  the  rights  of 
individual  life.  Thus  he  meets  the  tendencies  just 
gaining  strength  in  Germany."  He  condemns  and 
ridicules  the  influence  of  human  civilization.  He  claims 
that  religion  is  nothing  but  the  product  of  geography; 
that  no  truth  decides  the  religion  of  a  man,  but  the 
fact  whether  he  is  born  in  Rome  or  in  Mecca ;  that  one 
does  not  believe  in  God  at  all,  but  in  the  man  who  tells 
him  about  God.  Culture,  he  says,  makes  man  untrue 
and  false,  estranged  to  one's  own  self.  This  produces 
and  promotes  outside  appearances,  hypocrisy  and  a 
deformation  of  the  inner  soul.  It  does  not  allow  any 
strong  will  or  feeling  at  all ;  all  good  feelings  of  nature 
are  toned  down  to  the  same  social  level.  Man  asks 
not  how  much  an  action  pleases  himself,  but  what  other 
men  will  say  about  it.  No  man  dares  be  himself;  he 
must  act  like  the  others.  That  seems  the  rule  of 
wisdom.  "This  is  the  custom,  that  is  not  the  custom," 
is  the  final  decision. 

The  theory  of  Rousseau  has  come  to  renewed  life  in 
the  present  time,  having  found  a  new  prophet  in  Tolstoi. 

But  even  if  we  are  not  willing  to  place  the  beast-like 
savage  of  reality  above  the  civilized  man,  we  must 


xxxvn  GERMAN  IDEALISM  407 

concede  that  Rousseau's  gospel  of  nature  has  had 
most  beneficent  consequences.  He  opened  our  eyes 
to  the  beauties  of  nature,  especially  to  the  beauties  of  a 
landscape.  Before  his  time  it  did  not  occur  to  people 
that  a  high  mountain  range,  with  its  grotesque  shapes, 
its  snowy  peaks,  its  varying  and  fine  outlines,  might  be 
a  thing  of  beauty.  We  have  a  descriptive  poem  of  the 
same  period  by  Haller,  entitled  "The  Alps,"  which 
says  not  a  word  of  the  grandeur  and  beauty  of  the  Swiss 
mountains,  but  praises  the  innocence  and  idyllic  life  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  quiet  valley.  Humanity  had  no 
eyes  for  the  grandeur  of  nature  before  Rousseau. 

To  the  young  people  of  the  Storm  and  Stress  period 
the  doctrines  of  Rousseau  came  as  a  revelation.  They 
gave  clearness  and  system  to  their  own  obscure  notions. 
All  youths  with  an  idealist  turn  in  mind,  all  young 
talents,  were  inspired  by  him.  He  was  the  great  prophet 
who  gave  the  philosophical  foundation  to  their  claims  of 
an  excessive  sovereignty  of  the  individual.  Men  like 
Goethe  and  Schiller  could  not  help  being  drawn  into 
this  movement.  Goethe's  "Goetz  von  Berlichingen  " 
and  "Werthers  Leiden,"  Schiller's  "Rauber,"  are 
genuine  products  of  the  Storm  and  Stress.  Their 
great  difference  from  most  of  the  rest  is  that  they  are 
the  works  of  genius,  while  those  of  others  were  not, 
and  that  for  Goethe  and  Schiller  they  mark  only  a 
period  of  transition. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII 

GERMAN   IDEALISM 
II 

Kant 

THE  man  who  counteracted  the  influences  of  Rousseau 
was  Immanuel  Kant.  It  was  he  who  quieted  the 
rebellious  spirit  and,  as  Lessing  had  conquered  Ration- 
alism, he  conquered  Rousseau  —  by  going  farther.  He 
also  advocated  a  return  to  nature,  but  not  to  the  nature 
of  the  savage ;  his  view  of  nature  was  more  like  the 
artistic  view  of  the  Greeks ;  he  conceived  at  the  same 
time  the  external  vastness  of  the  worlds  and  the  emo- 
tional depths  of  the  heart.  While  Rousseau  saw  in 
humanity  only  a  conglomeration  of  individuals,  it  was 
with  Kant,  as  with  Herder,  an  organic  unity,  a  com- 
munity in  which  all  individuals  were  held  together  by 
"the  mind  and  the  law  of  Duty."  Kant  denies  with 
Rousseau  that  the  value  of  man  depends  on  his  perfec- 
tion in  a  rationalistic  sense,  on  his  culture;  but  the 
element  by  which  he  must  be  measured  is  his  good- will. 
This  good-will  is  based  on  practical  liberty.  There  is 
no  virtue  by  compulsion.  With  Herder  he  sees  in 
pure  humanity,  in  der  reinen  Menschlichkeit,  the  aim 
of  all  history  and  culture.  But  what  content  does 
he  give  to  the  idea  ?  In  trying  to  find  the  true  nature 
of  the  human  mind  he  brings  forth  those  theories  which 
mark  a  turning  point  in  human  progress,  to  which  we 

408 


CHAP,  xxxvin  GERMAN  IDEALISM  409 

always  must  return  when  we  find  that  the  way  by  which 
we  have  searched  for  the  highest  and  deepest  truths 
leads  in  a  wrong  direction.  He  does  not  examine  the 
ways  by  which  we  achieve  knowledge,  as  the  phi- 
losophers, lastly  the  great  French  and  English  thinkers, 
had  done ;  but  he  examines  the  possibilities  of  knowledge 
itself.  He  finds  that  no  knowledge  of  the  substance  of 
things  is  possible.  The  categories,  the  grooves,  so  to 
speak,  along  which  our  thoughts  run,  which  our  own 
mind  has  created,  and  which  have  no  existence  out- 
side of  our  minds,  place  all  human  experience  hi  its 
systematic  order;  such  categories  are  time,  space, 
cause,  and  so  forth. 

Thus  we  ourselves  create,  so  to  speak,  our  world. 
Truth  is  in  fact  the  conception,  the  only  conception,  of 
the  creative  mind.  We  do  not  know  whether  the  things 
we  perceive  are  really  as  we  perceive  them.  This  may 
perhaps  be  made  plainer  to  those  who  are  not  used  to 
philosophizing  by  using  an  illustration.  The  science 
of  physics  tells  us  that  what  we  call  colors  are  simply 
the  products  of  the  vibrations  of  our  nerves,  that 
whether  we  see  red,  blue,  or  yellow  depends  on  the 
number  of  vibrations  which  the  light  waves,  sent  out 
by  any  object,  cause  in  our  visual  nerves.  By  making 
these  vibrations  slow  or  quick  the  impression  on  the 
eye  will  be  changed ;  we  can  cause  color  sensations  by 
a  more  or  less  strong  touch  or  pressure  on  the  visual 
nerves;  so,  what  we  see  as  red,  cannot  be  really  red, 
but  merely  causes  the  sensation  of  red;  we  do  not 
really  know  what  color,  if  any,  the  object  has  from 
which  the  stimulating  waves  originate ;  we  cannot  go 
behind  our  sensations ;  they  are  in  us  and  not  in  the 
object.  What  I  have  exemplified  here  in  regard  to  a 
visible  object  Kant  applied  to  the  whole  world.  He 


410  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

begins  his  criticism  of  all  human  knowledge  by  the 
statement  that  all  scientific  research  must  begin  with- 
out a  preconceived  opinion.  In  rigid  application  of 
this  principle  he  examines  all  contents  of  the  human 
mind,  lays  bare  innumerable  errors,  so  that  we  really 
may  say  that  he  completely  changed  the  world  of  human 
thought.  His  statement  of  the  limits  of  knowledge 
opens  the  way  for  a  reconciliation  of  science  and  creed. 
He  refutes  Rationalism  by  conceding  that  there  is  some- 
thing we  cannot  conquer  by  our  human  reason,  some- 
thing we  cannot  know,  that  there  are  things  we  cannot 
investigate  or  penetrate.  This  includes,  of  course,  also 
a  refutation  of  Materialism.  After  having  shown  the 
limit  of  rational  knowledge,  he  acknowledges  the  exist- 
ence of  ideas  transcending  human  reason.  "Here  are 
three  ideas,"  he  says,  "of  which  we  know  directly  that 
we  cannot  prove  them,  yet  which  we  know  by  intuitive 
conviction :  the  soul,  the  world,  and  God."  It  is  not  our 
place  to  inquire  whether  those  of  his  opponents  are  right 
who  claim  that  in  this  manner  he  advocates  the  very 
knowledge  the  impossibility  of  which  he  had  showed 
himself ;  for  us  it  is  of  importance  that  this  conviction 
has  more  or  less  become  a  part  of  the  German  soul.  It 
agrees  with  German  Theism  before  and  after  him. 

"The  French  Deists  by  the  application  of  the  law  of 
causality  to  the  outside  world  (i.e.,  by  reasoning  and 
mechanical  explanation)  arrived  at  the  last  cause  or 
Deity.  The  German  Theists  started  from  conscience 
or  tried  to  prove  the  Deity  out  of  the  inner  revelation 
of  the  moral  law  as  it  speaks  in  the  bosom  of  men,  and 
they  invoked  Cartesianism,  as  developed  by  Leibnitz, 
and  continued  and  amplified  by  Wolf,  which  appealed 
to  the  innate  idea  of  a  Deity  as  the  strongest  proof  of 
its  existence."  To  this  we  may  add  Goethe's  words : 


xxxvm  GERMAN  IDEALISM  411 

"They  do  not  understand  that  there  can  be  anything 
in  the  mind  which  has  not  come  into  it  from  without." 
In  line  with  all  German  thinkers  since  Luther,  Kant 
places  morality  in  man's  own  law.  Self-determina- 
tion is  the  key  to  modern  personality.  The  feeling  of 
personal  responsibility  which  creates  the  character 
is  neither  "a  general  disposition,  born  in  us,"  nor 
"a  bundle  of  habits,"  but  it  is  the  absolute  unity  of 
inner  principles  with  the  outer  conduct  of  life.  "  Habit 
produces  the  mere  appearance  of  what  in  truth  is  a  man's 
free  decision  and  his  own  mind.  No  outside  authority 
can  tell  us  what  is  right  or  wrong;  we  must  find  the 
moral  law  in  ourselves."  Our  actions  must  be  based  on 
truth  and  justice.  Kant  does  not  tell  us,  "your  actions 
must  be  good,"  but  "you  must  be  good."  He  rejects 
as  unsafe  the  principle  of  Christian  morality,  as  well  as 
that  of  humanity,  based  on  the  brotherhood  and 
equality  of  man,  the  utilitarian  principle  of  Bacon  and 
that  of  self-perfection  advocated  by  Leibnitz ;  he  places 
instead  the  "Categorical  Imperative,"  that  stern, 
never-wavering  law  of  duty,  telling  us  to  act  so  that  the 
principle  of  our  action  may  become  the  foundation  of  a 
universal  law.  He  broadens  the  Golden  Rule  from  a 
principle  of  mutual  relation  of  man  to  man  to  a  general 
law  of  the  world;  not,  "Do  unto  others  as  you  want 
others  to  do  unto  you, "  but,  "Act  so,  that  if  everybody 
else  did  the  same  it  would  be  for  the  general  good."  It 
takes  a  decided  stand  against  the  worshippers  of  success  : 
"The  outside  world  goes  its  own  course  and  contradicts 
morality,  the  more  reason  not  to  make-  success  the 
highest  aim  of  the  moral  personality.  Human  conduct 
is  not  the  measure  of  morality ;  truth  remains  truth, 
right  remains  right,  whatever  position  men  take  towards 
them :  if,  for  instance,  everybody  told  lies,  would 


412  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

telling  the  truth  therefore  be  a  mere  whim  ?  If  justice 
perish,  it  is  of  no  value  any  more  that  men  should  live 
on  earth." 

Thus  Kant,  the  modern  man,  recognizes  the  limits  of 
his  knowledge  in  the  realm  of  science.  But  he  ac- 
knowledges, on  the  other  hand,  no  other  limitations  of 
his  work  than  that  found  in  the  nature  of  its  means. 
Morally,  he  rests  on  the  self-imposed  laws  of  his  moral- 
ity; in  respect  to  religion  he  takes  strength  in  the 
universal  law,  in  God,  as  he  recognizes  Him,  by  means 
of  space  and  time,  in  the  world  which  man  has  created 
over  again  in  himself;  as  to  art,  all  things  appeal  to 
him  hi  aesthetic  conception.  While  we  make  these  di- 
visions for  purposes  of  thought  and  expression,  and 
speak  of  an  intellectual,  a  moral,  a  religious,  and  an 
artistic  or  aesthetic  side,  they  are  all  only  one  in  man's 
consciousness. 

These  theories  of  Kant  as  to  the  individual  nature 
of  man  are  those  that  have  been  and  are  of  the  greatest 
influence;  imperceptibly  they  have  penetrated  all 
scientific  and  literary  work  and  influence  —  and  this 
is  of  the  most  far-reaching  importance  —  all  public  and 
private  life ;  they  found  a  responsive  reception  in  a  people 
who  have  a  natural  disposition  to  look  for  the  substance 
of  things,  to  do  their  work  well  for  its  own  sake,  who  still 
have  before  their  eyes  or  at  least  fresh  in  their  memory 
the  life  of  stern  duty  of  a  national  hero  and  a  great  ruler ; 
and  it  is  a  fitting  coincidence  that  the  great  philosopher 
of  duty  should  have  been  living  in  the  state  where 
for  two  generations  the  sense  of  duty  had  become  the 
foundation  of  public  and  private  service  from  the  king 
down  to  the  common  soldier  and  the  farm  hand.  Not 
only  through  his  scholar  von  Clausewitz,  the  authority 
on  military  science,  is  Kant  to  be  credited  with  a  share 


xxxvni  GERMAN   IDEALISM  413 

in  the  successes  of  modern  Germany ;  not  only  through 
his  influence  on  all  scientific  thought,  —  it  is  his  cate- 
gorical imperative  which  has  made  possible  that  won- 
derful discipline  which  distinguishes  the  German  soldiers 
and  the  German  laborer  above  all  others,  and  which, 
in  this  respect,  has  completely  changed  the  character 
of  a  nation  which,  as  all  writers  of  former  times  agree, 
was  once  the  most  undisciplined  in  Europe.  This 
discipline,  the  voluntary  submission  of  one's  own  in- 
dividual will  to  the  promotion  of  a  common  purpose, 
is  the  secret  of  organization.  Organization  and  edu- 
cation are  the  great  resources  of  the  German  nation,  by 
which  alone  they  can  offset  the  advantages  possessed 
by  their  sister  nations  in  the  shape  of  a  wider  expanse 
of  land,  a  more  favorable  location,  and  a  greater  wealth 
in  natural  products,  in  the  great  contest  for  a  sufficient 
share  in  the  world's  goods,  or,  as  the  German's  favorite 
phrase  is, "for  a  place  in  the  sunshine." 

That  a  universal  and  fearless  thinker  like  Kant  would 
not  stop  at  the  existing  political  conditions  is  self- 
evident.  He  is  thoroughly  democratic,  and  the  excited 
joy  he  felt  at  the  news  of  the  outbreak  of  the  French 
Revolution  is  the  only  instance  known  when  he  lost  his 
equanimity.  (How  regular  his  life  was  may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  fact  that  some  of  his  fellow-citizens 
in  Konigsberg  actually  used  to  set  their  watches  by 
the  time  he  passed  their  houses  going  to  the  university 
every  day.) 

He  did  not  believe  in  state  absolutism  nor  in  the  ab- 
solute right  of  the  majority.  For  him  the  state  was  sim- 
ply an  institution  for  the  administration  of  j  ustice.  * '  No 
man  must  be  the  means  for  the  ends  of  another,  but 
must  be  an  end  in.  himself  all  the  time."  He  foretells 
the  victory  of  democracy  and  representative  govern- 


414    HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION    CHAP,  xxxvni 

ment,  and  prophesies  the  time  when  all  wars  will  be 
ended  by  a  federation  of  the  civilized  nations.  While 
his  influence  in  the  political  field  was  of  no  direct  avail, 
although  considered  dangerous  enough  by  the  govern- 
ment of  Frederick  William  II  to  warrant  his  perse- 
cution, it  is  worth  mentioning  that  his  essay  on  "  Per- 
manent Peace"  is  one  of  the  standard  authorities  of 
the  modern  Peace  Movement,  and  that  a  World  Fed- 
eration as  he  conceives  it  is  one  of  its  principal  de- 
mands. Recent  state  treaties  seem  to  indicate  a  kind 
of  political  development  in  the  spirit  of  his  prophecy. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX 

GERMAN    IDEALISM 
III 

Its   Culmination.     Schiller  and  Goethe.     The   German 

Religion 

THE  teachings  of  the  great  man  mentioned  in  the 
last  chapters  have  brought  us  to  the  centre  of 
German  Idealism,  sometimes  called  the  German  Re- 
naissance, in  its  latter  phases  New  Humanism  or 
Classicism,  which  wants  to  replace  mere  syllogizing  by 
a  desire  for  a  thorough  and  spontaneous  energizing  of 
the  whole  human  being.  Instead  of  its  mere  useful- 
ness, the  ideal  of  the  Rationalists,  we  find  a  demand 
for  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  action  itself ;  in  place  of  a 
practical,  moralizing  conduct  of  life,  there  is  a  longing 
for  a  universal,  artistic  formation  of  life.  The  world 
is  considered  not  as  a  realm  beyond  us,  but  as  the 
deepest  truth  within  us ;  by  mastering  this  truth 
man  conquers  the  discordant  tendencies  of  his  own  life, 
and  solves  in  the  completeness  of  his  whole  being,  in 
"pure  humanity,"  the  greatest  of  all  problems.  One 
and  the  same  great  life,  one  and  the  same  fundamental 
law,  comprises  man  and  nature ;  the  uniting  of  the  inner 
forces  and  impulses,  the  conscious,  clear-sighted  up- 
building of  life,  make  life  a  work  of  art.  "Man  is  the 
first  freeman  of  creation,  he  stands  upright,  the  balance 
of  good  and  bad,  of  false  and  true,  hangs  within  him, 
he  can  investigate,  he  must  choose  ! "  But  man  is 

415 


416  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

bound,  oppressed,  torn  asunder,  so  to  speak,  by  his 
load  of  matter.  Only  the  realm  of  beauty  can  give 
him  free  development  and  connect  all  manifold  parts 
into  one  living  unity.  Only  here  is  man  able  to  be 
completely  himself  and  to  give  meaning  and  value 
to  his  existence.  Such  an  interpretation  of  an  artistic 
culture,  comprising  all  fields  of  the  inner  life,  must 
sharply  distinguish  between  the  external  necessities  of 
life,  with  their  usefulness,  and  the  empire  of  beauty 
and  noble  refinement,  world-wide  understanding  and 
creative  reasoning;  it  must  distinguish  between  mere 
civilization,  which  is  simply  "the  order  and  restfulness 
of  the  external  life,"  and  the  genuine  culture  of  the 
mind.  This  distinction  between  civilization  and  culture, 
brought  out  first  by  the  German  Idealists,  has  not  been 
without  strong  influences  on  the  higher  life  of  the  nation. 
We  may  truthfully  say  that  the  views  of  the  German 
Idealists,  as  they  have  here  been  outlined  in  their 
fundamental  traits,  are  common  to  all  the  great  leaders 
of  Germany  to  the  present  day.  The  forming  of  a  com- 
plete personality  is  the  German  ideal  in  all  fields  of  life  ; 
we  find  it  preached  in  the  religion  of  Schleiermacher,  as 
well  as  in  the  pedagogy  of  Pestalozzi  and  F.  A.  Wolff ; 
for  both  the  purpose  of  education  is  not  the  good  of 
society,  but  the  development  and  completion  of  the  inner 
personality  or  equal  or  harmonious  development  of  all 
the  faculties  of  the  individual.  The  organization  of 
the  external  life,  that  is,  government,  is  looked  upon 
in  a  certain  sense  as  an  educational  institution ;  as 
Goethe  expresses  it,  "to  make  government  superfluous 
is  the  principal  purpose  of  government."  Indeed,  legal 
compulsion  destroys,  according  to  Schiller,  the  moral 
beauty  of  an  action.  "The  first  condition  for  the  moral 
beauty  of  action,"  he  says,  "is  the  freedom  of  the  will, 


xxxix  GERMAN  IDEALISM  417 

and  this  primary  liberty  is  gone  as  soon  as  an  attempt 
is  made  to  enforce  moral  virtue  by  legal  punishment. 
It  is  the  most  noble  privilege  of  human  nature  to  direct 
itself  and  to  do  the  good  for  its  own  sake.  No  civil 
law  must  command  by  compulsion  fidelity  to  a  friend, 
magnanimity  towards  an  enemy,  gratitude  towards 
father  and  mother ;  for  as  soon  as  this  is  done  free  moral 
sentiment  becomes  a  result  of  fear,  the  sentiment  of  a 
slave."  " Everybody  has  his  own  ideal  of  manhood  in 
himself;  after  we  have  learnt  by  zealous  effort  what 
this  ideal  is,  by  self-examination  and  in  self-knowledge, 
we  must  trust  in  our  own  genius,  not  submit  to  and 
adapt  ourselves  to  the  shallow  surroundings,"  in  short, 
not  become  what  the  Germans  call  a  Schablonenmensch, 
meaning  "a  man  made  by  stencil"  —  a  warning  very 
necessary  for  his  countrymen,  and  not  always  heeded. 
The  cultured  society  of  Germany  has  been  formed 
by  following  these  ideals ;  perhaps  it  has  not  always 
been  productive  or  inspiring,  but  by  reception  and  dis- 
tribution the  whole  class  has  helped  toward  the  con- 
struction of  a  new  society ;  we  find  the  same  valuation 
of  things,  the  same  plane  of  judgment,  the  same  tastes, 
common  to  all  its  members.  But  we  must  not  forget 
that  after  all  we  have  here  only  the  ethical  evolution  of 
a  fundamental  trait  of  national  character,  the  German 
emphasis  on  personality,  which  they  have  manifested 
since  their  first  appearance  in  the  light  of  history. 
Thus  this  conception  of  liberty,  not  as  license,  but  as 
the  spontaneous  responsibility  of  the  free  man,  has  not 
been  confined  to  the  educated  classes,  but  has  become 
a  part  of  the  national  conscience.  This  is  why  Germans 
oppose  all  legislation  which  tries  to  enforce  morality, 
instead  of  allowing  it  to  grow  out  of  the  free  resolution  of 
the  people.  To  give  one  instance,  I  may  mention  the 

2E 


418  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

unflinching  protest  of  the  German  Americans  against 
the  so-called  temperance  legislation  and  Sunday  law  in 
the  United  States,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  strong  and 
successful  movement  in  Germany  against  the  abuse  of 
alcohol,  which  within  a  few  years  has  reduced  its  con- 
sumption per  capita  by  one-third  to  one-half,  and  in 
which  restrictive  legislation  has  not  even  been  proposed. 

To  return  to  the  main  subject,  it  is  clear  that  a  theory 
•which  places  the  individual  so  strongly  in  the  centre 
of  interest  must  cause  a  relative  indifference  to  all  ex- 
ternal life,  an  inclination  to  aristocratic  exclusiveness 
resulting  in  danger  to  national  development.  It  fos- 
ters a  neglect  of  the  difficulties  and  problems  offered 
by  society,  and  thereby  a  certain  lack  of  firmness  and 
cordiality  towards  outside  influences,  as,  indeed,  has 
become  evident  in  some  of  the  leaders  of  German 
thought.  But  the  lasting  good  of  German  Idealism  is 
that  it  has  given  its  followers  a  wonderful  inner  strength 
and  tenderness,  a  deepening  of  the  life  of  the  soul 
within  itself ;  their  whole  circle  of  existence  is  enlivened 
and  ennobled.  The  innermost  relations  of  man  to  him- 
self, to  his  associates,  to  nature  and  the  world,  are, 
in  a  certain  sense,  moulded  like  a  work  of  plastic  art. 
The  refinement  of  its  fundamental  structure,  its  simplic- 
ity, and  its  grandeur  makes  German  Idealism  one  of  the 
best  and  most  indestructible  possessions  of  humanity. 

For  the  Germans  themselves  its  value  was  soon  put  to 
an  actual  test.  The  greatest  downfall  Germany  has 
experienced  since  the  Thirty  Years'  War  was  marked 
by  the  battle  of  Jena,  when  Prussia  was  defeated 
and  almost  destroyed  by  Napoleon  I.  Indeed,  its  com- 
plete ruin  seemed  only  a  question  of  time.  It  was  then 
that  by  the  strength  of  those  ideals,  not  only  Prussia, 
but  all  Germany,  was  regenerated  in  an  incredibly  short 


xxxix  GERMAN  IDEALISM  419 

time,  which  would  have  been  impossible  but  for  the 
inexhaustible  treasure  of  culture  and  strength  stored  up 
by  the  German  poets  and  thinkers  in  the  invisible  world. 
In  showing  the  common  tendency  of  Lessing,  Herder, 
and  Kant  we  have  given  the  substance  of  German 
Idealism,  which  implies  also  the  great  contributions  of 
Goethe  and  Schiller  to  the  ^culture  of  their  nation  and 
the  world  in  general.  I, is  the  purpose  of  this  book  to 
follow,  as  far  as  external  circumstances  and  the  abilities 
of  the  author  permit,  the  different  threads  in  the  de- 
velopment of  German  civilization ;  the  effects  of  different 
forces,  one  of  which  —  but  only  one  —  are  the  great 
men,  on  the  character  and  life  of  the  nation  are  what  inter- 
ests us,  and  therefore  we  :annot  pay  attention  to  critical 
distinctions  which  are  of  importance  to  the  biographer 
and  literary  historian.  We  cannot  dwell  on  the  closer 
relationship  of  Goethe  and  Herder  on  the  one  hand, 
and  of  Schiller  and  Kant  on  the  other;  it  is  not  our 
place  here  to  point  out  the  difference  between  Kant 
and  the  two  great  poets,  nor  to  solve  the  old  problem 
as  to  who  is  greater  —  Goethe  or  Schiller.  For  the 
German  people  German  Idealism  is  one  force,  and  Goethe 
and  Schiller  are  its  greatfit  exponents;  they  are  the 
High  Priests  who  have  given  to  their  countrymen  access 
to  the  sacred  depths  of  their  own  souls,  who  have  called 
to  life  what  is  best  in  them.  For  both  Reine  Mensch- 
lichkeit  —  Pure  Humanity  —  is  the  great  ideal. 
Both  agree  that  everything  man  undertakes  must  have 
its  source  in  the  union  of  all  powers ;  everything 
isolated  is  bad.  To  live  one's  life  as  an  organic,  harmo- 
nious whole,  and  to  help  others  towards  the  same  end,  is 
the  highest  purpose  of  life.  To  acquire  an  insight 
into  the  unit  and  the  reason  of  all  phenomena  of  life  and 
nature  is  the  duty  of  every  civilized  man. 


420  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

The  enormous  influence  of  the  two  great  Germans 
on  their  nation  could  not  have  been  accomplished  by 
the  excellence  of  their  literary  art  alone,  but  for  the 
fact  that  their  own  lives  were  works  of  art  by  themselves, 
in  which  they,  consciously  and  deliberately,  worked 
out  their  ideal  of  "a  great  and  free  personality  which 
rises  above  small  conventionalities  and  breathes  the  free 
open  air  of  what  is  human  in  the  broadest  sense. ' '  For  both 
the  struggle  was  a  hard  one,  though  with  Goethe  it  be- 
came evident  only  after  the  battle  was  ended,  the  victory 
gained,  and  the  contending  forces  were  reconciled  hi  a 
finished  work  of  art.  His  fortunate  external  circum- 
stances allowed  his  interest  to  concentrate  in  an  un- 
usual degree  in  the  individual.  He  saw  the  greatest 
happiness  in  quiet  resignation.  "The  highest  blessing 
for  the  thinker,"  he  says,  "is  to  have  investigated  the 
investigable,  to  revere  quietly  the  non-investigable." 
Schiller  was  less  fortunate  in  the  external  circumstances 
of  his  life ;  the  constant  pressure  of  troubles  brought 
him  into  closer  sympathy  with  the  struggling  masses  of 
his  people.  Resignation  was  not  his  choice ;  he  found 
satisfaction  only  in  the  heat  of  actual  conflict.  It  is 
to  him  that  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  as  far  as  they 
are  accessible  for  deeper  thought  at  all,  look  as  their 
prophet ;  he  has  given  expression  to  their  own  feelings. 
His  "Jungfrau  von  Orleans,"  his  "Maria  Stuart,"  his 
"Wilhelm  Tell,"  his  "Lied  von  der  Glocke,"  his  ballads, 
mean  as  much  to  the  people,  if  not  more,  than  Goethe's 
"Faust"  or  "Wilhelm  Meister"  mean  to  the  chosen 
few ;  and  it  does  not  look  like  a  waning  of  Schiller's  in- 
fluence when  a  prominent  Protestant  clergyman  can 
take  the  text  for  his  sermons  through  a  whole  year  from 
Schiller,  as  J.  Burggraf  did  in  Bremen  in  1904.  The 
pastor  assures  us  that  he  has  high  esteem  for  the  Bible ; 


xxxix  GERMAN  IDEALISM  421 

"but,"  he  continues,  "why  should  the  life  revelations 
of  God  speak  to  us  only  through  the  singer  of  Israel, 
and  not  just  as  deeply  and  truly  through  Germany's 
great  poet?  Why  is  only  the  religious  thinker  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans  to  be  a  witness  of  Christ,  and  not 
one  just  as  great  and  with  like  power  over  souls,  the 
great  disciple  of  Kant,  who  speaks  to  our  nation  out  of 
'Ideal  and  Life'?"  ( "  Das  Ideal  und  das  Leben"  —one 
of  Schiller's  great  philosophical  poems.) 

However,  though  German  Idealism  has  the  greatest 
hold  on  the  German  people  through  Schiller,  it  is  the 
same  ideal  that  fills  the  soul  of  all  great  Germans,  be 
it  Schiller  or  Goethe,  Lessing  or  Herder,  Mozart  or 
Beethoven,  Wagner  or  Bismarck,  "the  typical  man,  hi 
conflict  between  the  sensual  and  the  spiritual  world, 
but  driven  by  an  inner  impulse  to  overcome  this  con- 
flict ;  ever  erring,  ever  sinning,  still  master  of  his  fate ; 
endowed  by  nature  with  the  faculty  of  working  out  his 
individuality,  but  forced  by  this  very  instinct  into 
organic  relations  with  the  social  and  national  life;  in 
short,  man  rising  to  his  own  greatness,  striving  for  the 
harmonious  consolidation  of  all  his  faculties." 

This,  then,  is  what  has  been  called  "the  German  re- 
ligion-," the  evolution  of  eighteen  centuries  from  the 
reverence  of  the  secretum  illud,  the  mysterious 
"something"  of  Tacitus,  best  expressed  perhaps  by 
Goethe  in  its  simple  beauty:  "There  lives  a  longing 
in  the  purity  of  our  soul  to  give  ourselves  out  of  our 
own  free  will,  in  gratitude,  to  something  Higher,  Pure, 
Unknown.  We  call  it  Piety." 

"  In  unseres  Busens  Reine  wohnt  ein  Streben, 
Sich  einem  Hohern,  Reinen,  Unbekannten 
Aus  Dankbarkeit  freiwillig  hinzugeben. 
Wir  heissen's :  Fromm  sein." 


BOOK  THE   FIFTH 

THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY 
THE   NEW   EMPIRE 


CHAPTER  XL 

GERMANY  ABOUT  1800 

THE  time  about  the  year  1800  represents,  perhaps,  as 
far  as  true  greatness  is  concerned,  the  greatest  time  in 
German  history.  Men  like  Goethe,  Schiller,  Herder, 
Kant,  Klopstock,  Wieland,  Beethoven,  the  Hum- 
boldts,  Johann  Maria  von  Weber,  were  living ;  Lessing, 
Gluck,  Haydn,  Mozart,  and  the  great  Frederick  had 
not  departed  very  long,  and  were  still  alive  in  the  mem- 
ory of  the  living,  —  certainly  a  wonderful  galaxy. 

Externally  fashions  approach  the  appearance  of  the 
present  day.  Gentlemen  still  wear  knee-breeches 
and  queues  and  powder;  but  under  the  influences 
mentioned  in  former  chapters  colors  have  now 
disappeared  entirely  from  their  dress.  At  home  that 
peculiar  German  garment,  the  Schlafrock  (dressing- 
gown),  had  begun  to  rule.  Long  trousers,  of  width 
changing  with  the  fashions,  wide  coats,  neckties,  short 
vests,  were  worn.  The  modern  dress-coat — the  swal- 
lowtail— made  its  appearance.  The  dress  of  the  ladies 
was  still  somewhat  under  the  influence  of  the  Rococo 
period;  but  the  classical  style,  with  its  tunic,  effected 
by  the  French  Revolution,  began  to  predominate,  and 
the  "  Greek  knot,"  so  dear  to  many  feminine  hearts. 

Love  began  to  assume  its  modern  character,  prin- 
cipally under  the  influence  of  fiction ;  people,  even 
among  the  higher  classes,  began  to  follow  the  dictates 
of  their  own  hearts.  In  earlier  centuries  we  saw  men 

425 


426  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

in  high  positions  marrying  far  below  their  rank,  but 
they  were  exceptions;  now  such  marriages  become 
comparatively  frequent. 

Women  were  greatly  adored.  It  is  the  time  of 
woman's  reign,  in  a  measure  not  attained  since,  and 
not  to  be  found  to-day,  even  in  places  where  woman 
has  all  the  woman's  rights  she  wants. 

As  for  the  aesthetic  side,  the  German  mind  did  not 
solve  the  problem  of  art  it  set  for  itself.  We  must 
remember  that  the  essence  of  this  problem  throughout 
history  is  the  struggle  of  giving  adequate  expression 
to  contents  and  thought,  of  linking  the  idea  with  beauti- 
ful form  in  painting  and  sculpture,  as  Germans  have 
so  successfully  done  in  music  and  poetry.  While  most 
nations  place  external  beauty  in  the  foreground,  and 
are  often  satisfied  with  the  simple  representation  of 
beauty  for  beauty's  sake,  the  German  demands  more 
of  a  work  of  art ;  he  wants  thought ;  he  wants  an  idea 
represented. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  Renaissance,  the  Baroque 
and  the  Rococo  art  of  a  national  type  had  almost  been 
destroyed,  and  what  was  left  gave  way  to  the  classicism 
of  Lessing  and  Winckelmann.  Where  there  is  no 
national  spirit  there  can  be  no  national  art.  The  fact 
that  the  Greek  models  as  they  were  found  had  lost  all 
trace  of  color  caused  color  to  be  neglected;  and  not 
in  sculpture  only;  outline  became  the  principal  tech- 
nical interest,  even  in  painting.  As  representative  of 
this  tendency,  Carstens  is  the  best  known  master. 
Graff  and  Chlodowiecky  painted  portraits  of  merit. 
The  latter  is  better  known  by  his  numerous  and  excel- 
lent copper  engravings,  which  for  themselves  tell  a 
great  part  of  the  history  of  his  times.  Graff  marks 
a  decided  advance  in  the  art  of  painting,  neglecting 


XL  GERMANY  ABOUT  1800  427 

detail,  and  concentrating  his  energy  on  a  faithful  ren- 
dering of  the  head,  making  the  eye  the  central  expres- 
sion of  soul  life.  Amongst  the  landscape  painters  Otto 
Runge  anticipated  what  is  considered  a  modern 
development ;  he  makes  light  an  artistic  object  for 
itself,  not  simply  an  attribute  of  illuminated  objects; 
he  brought  color  into  the  shades  which  were,  up  to 
his  time,  painted  in  gray  or  black  only.  He  showed 
originality  in  ornamentation  after  a  long  period  of 
imitation. 

In  architecture  Germany  had  one  great  master, 
Schinkel,  to  whose  genius  Berlin  owes  its  most  beauti- 
ful buildings. 

Amongst  the  sculptors  Danneker  holds  first  place, 
whose  beautiful  bust  of  Schiller  is  widely  known, 
since  from  it  are  reproduced  most  of  the  popular  pic- 
tures of  the  great  poet.  Although  a  Dane,  the 
great  sculptor  Thorwaldsen  owes  his  best  inspiration 
to  German  Idealism  and  Classicism. 

In  trying  to  reach  the  foundation  of  the  new  ideas, 
the  new  religious  views,  or  the  new  theory  of  life  which 
has  come  to  abide  with  the  leading  representatives  of 
German  thought,  we  found  it  to  consist  in  the  convic- 
tion that  there  is  something  in  man  and  the  world  out- 
side of  him  that  cannot  be  fathomed;  it  is  the  very 
unity  between  man  and  nature  which  we  feel,  but 
which  we  cannot  penetrate  with  our  reason.  In  this 
view  they  felt  related  to  the  Greeks,  whom  they  did 
not  so  much  imitate  as  sympathize  with,  because  they 
likewise  strove  after  a  close  relation  to  nature.  But 
there  is  this  difference  between  the  Greek  and  Germanic 
contemplation  of  nature,  that  the  Greeks  are  satisfied 
with  the  things  as  they  find  them,  while  the  Germanic 
mind  goes  further,  and  does  not  take  things  simply 


428  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

as  they  are,  but  sees  in  them  the  result  of  past,  the  germ 
of  future,  developments. 

The  ideal  of  life  as  established  by  the  new  leaders,  to 
wit,  pure  humanity,  necessarily  causes  great  emphasis 
to  be  laid  upon  culture,  in  the  German,  i.e.,  in  the  high 
sense  of  the  word.  The  artistic,  poetic,  and  religious 
or  spiritual  side  of  life  monopolized  the  interest  to  the 
exclusion  of  economic,  social,  or  political  questions. 
Having  the  harmonious  development  of  all  the  mental 
faculties  in  view  as  an  educational  ideal,  the  experi- 
ment was  made  of  continuing  in  the  individual  what 
was  observed  in  history,  to  wit,  organic  development, 
but  under  the  conscious  guidance  of  harmonious  beauty. 
That  is  what  is  meant  when  we  say  Goethe  and  Schiller 
made  works  of  art  out  of  their  lives.  This  is  not  a 
mere  phrase,  but  it  is  an  expression  used  by  them  in 
the  full  sense  of  the  words ;  their  lives  as  well  as  their 
works  introduce  us  to  the  ideal  man;  they  try  to 
represent  the  human  being  in  its  perfection. 

It  was  German  Idealism  which  finished  the  founda- 
tion on  which  German  science  was  to  rest.  Every- 
thing had  united  to  give  rise  to  a  great  scientific  life. 

It  would,  of  course,  be  more  than  ridiculous  to  claim 
"love  of  truth"  as  a  characteristic  trait  of  German 
science ;  there  can  be  no  science  without  it,  for  science 
means  love  of,  search  after,  truth ;  but  it  is  easier  for 
the  German  scholar  to  live  up  to  this  standard  than  per- 
haps to  the  scientist  of  any  other  nationality.  There  is 
nothing,  no  truth,  or  supposed  truth,  that  cannot  be 
openly  proclaimed  in  the  lecture-room  of  a  German  uni- 
versity, if  it  is  only  brought  forth  in  an  honest,  scien- 
tific spirit.  The  scholar  is  not  only  free  from  govern- 
mental interference,  "academic  liberty"  being  protected 
by  the  constitution,  but  public  opinion  will  respect 


XL  GERMANY  ABOUT  1800  429 

and  uphold  him.  Whenever  reactionary  governments 
tried  to  force  police  rule  upon  the  German  universities, 
the  whole  German  nation  stood  up  against  them ;  and 
there  are  very  few  exceptions  where  a  German  govern- 
ment succeeded  in  making  a  German  professor  suffer 
for  his  convictions.  He  is  as  independent  and  secure 
in  his  position  as  a  judge  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court.  Thus  there  is  no  excuse  whatever  for  a  Ger- 
man professor  to  follow  any  other  than  the  highest 
idealistic  motives. 

To  this  indispensable  idealism  German  science  adds 
an  extraordinarily  methodical  spirit,  caused  by  a  desire 
for  thoroughness  and  a  talent  for  organization.  This 
organizing  faculty  has  not  been  confined  to  academic 
circles ;  the  reader  who  has  followed  the  different  in- 
fluences will  not  be  astonished  to  hear  that  it  pervades 
all  public  and  economic  life.  There  is  hardly  a  more 
perfect  voluntary  organization  in  the  world  to-day  than 
the  socialist  labor  party,  or  the  Ultramontane  party 
in  Germany.  Of  course,  science  benefits  also  by  that 
discipline  and  sense  of  duty  which  were  strengthened  by 
the  practical  administration  of  Frederick  and  by  the 
philosophy  of  Immanuel  Kant.  We  must  likewise 
remember  in  this  connection  that  old  racial  quality 
which  lets  the  German  find  sufficient  reward  in  the 
perfection  of  the  work  he  does;  "the  work  praises  its 
master,"  and  with  modest  pride  everybody  feels  worthy 
of  his  praise  because  he  has  done  his  duty  in  his  place, 
no  matter  how  small  a  place  it  may  be.  A  certain  self- 
denial  of  the  German  investigator  is  another  secret  of  the 
success  of  his  science  as  a  whole.  As  a  student  he  learns 
from  his  teachers  that  a  certain  kind  of  research  work 
may,  indeed,  look  small  and  of  no  importance.  But  one 
day  may  bring  forth  the  great  man,  the  genius  to  de- 


430  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

velop  out  of  this  material  some  great  idea,  some  uni- 
versal law,  and  he  would  lose  his  time  and  energy  over 
these  small  problems  while  his  strength  should  be  used 
to  solve  the  greatest.  But  there  is  no  problem  so  small 
as  to  be  unworthy  of  investigation,  so  that,  if  left  un- 
solved, it  may  not  stand  in  the  way  of  truth.  The  aver- 
age scholar,  to  whom  nature  has  granted  less  of  the  divine 
spark,  can  still  further  the  great  work  and  perform  tasks 
that  must  be  done  if  the  more  favored  ones  shall  make 
their  great  discoveries.  But  with  the  systematic,  well- 
organized  labors  of  so  many  well-trained  workers  the 
field  of  science  is  searched  inch  by  inch,  and  not  much 
that  is  worth  finding  can  be  overlooked.  Only  self- 
denying  patience  and  persistence  will  secure  full  suc- 
cess for  method  and  organization. 

The  greatest  results  in  the  first  rise  of  German  science 
were  obtained  in  philosophic  and  historical  studies, 
and  in  the  related  subject  of  philology.  They  formed 
the  foundation  for  the  great  respect  the  Germans  have 
commanded  in  these  fields,  and  which  they  are  enjoy- 
ing to-day,  with  the  exception  perhaps  of  philosophy. 
From  being  a  disciple  of  the  other  nations  Germany 
now  became  a  teacher  of  the  whole  civilized  world. 
"Wolff,  Niebuhr,  Schleiermacher,  and  Wilhelm  von 
Humboldt  —  and  allied  with  them  Savigny  —  created 
the  science  of  the  mind  of  the  nineteenth  century," 
says  Harnack.  "  Historic-philosophical,  at  the  same 
time  critical-genial,  this  science  has  for  its  premises 
the  harmonious  development  of  all  faculties  dormant 
in  man ;  thus  they  wanted  to  discover  the  complete 
man  in  history  and  to  understand  it  as  a  reciprocity 
between  institution  and  individual.  .  .  .  The  uni- 
versality of  the  scholar  whose  mind  comprised  all 
objective  knowledge  was  not  to  be  reached  any  more 


XL  GERMANY  ABOUT  1800  431 

—  whoever  tried  it  failed.  But  a  new  universality 
of  the  most  intensive  kind  shone  forth  as  a  grand 
ideal ;  in  each  worthy  material,  if  conceived  with  all 
the  faculties  and  received  and  considered  as  a  part 
of  the  whole,  a  whole  can  originate  subjectively; 
not  knowledge,  but  culture,  is  the  final  aim  of  the 
scholar." 

The  drawback  of  this  movement  was,  as  has  been 
indicated,  the  lack  of  interest  in  the  external  relations 
of  life.  It  was  almost  with  contempt  that  some  peo- 
ple looked  down  on  political  and  social  questions.  In 
respect  to  some  of  the  great  Germans  of  this  tune  it 
has  been  said  with  some  appearance  of  justice  that  they 
completely  lost  their  own  nationality. 

This  was  the  time,  too,  not  in  Germany  alone,  of  cos- 
mopolitan ideas ;  but  it  was  not  everywhere  the  same 
cosmopolitanism.  The  greatest  Germans  were  not 
cosmopolitans  in  the  sense  of  Thomas  Fame,  but  in 
the  sense  of  Kant,  who  says  that  patriotism  does  not 
mean  hatred  of  all  other  nations,  but  that  it  means  love 
of  one's  own  country  above  all  others.  He  does  not  say 
that  because  we  love  all  men  all  distinctions  of  national- 
ity are  to  cease.  But,  in  spite  of  their  assumed  patriot- 
ism, the  leaders  of  thought  did  not  take  any  active 
interest  in  political  life.  Things  were  discussed  in  a 
general  way ;  questions  of  good  government  were  talked 
about  in  an  academic  manner;  the  question  of  uni- 
versal suffrage  and  of  a  republican  form  of  government 
were  rarely  touched.  A  constitution  did  not  appear 
to  be  especially  desirable.  They  saw  that  under  the 
English  constitution  there  had  developed  a  government 
by  a  limited  circle  of  aristocratic  families,  which  did 
not  seem  to  the  Germans  the  ideal  to  strive  for. 
Neither  did  the  free  cities  of  Germany,  which  were 


432  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

and  are  republics,  encourage  a  love  of  the  republican 
form  of  government. 

Of  course  "pure  humanity"  could  not  sustain  any 
national  prejudice,  or  even  conventionality.  The  theory 
was  proclaimed  that  race  distinctions  were  no  true 
distinctions  to  the  intellect,  and  that  one  must  sacrifice, 
as  much  as  necessary,  individual  life  to  the  interests 
of  humanity. 

Here  is  another  reason  why  the  French  Revolution 
exerted  so  little  influence  upon  the  Germans.  Indeed, 
hi  the  beginning,  before  the  Reign  of  Terror  began,  edu- 
cated Germans  followed  events  with  interest  and  sym- 
pathy ;  not  a  few  went  to  Paris  to  fight  for  the  cause 
of  liberty;  and  some  of  them  lost  their  heads,  sadly 
enough,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  by  the  machine 
of  the  good  Doctor  Guillotin.  The  Rhenish  Germans 
were  so  enthusiastic  about  it  that  they  even  invited 
their  French  neighbors  to  cross  the  boundary  and  to 
show  them  what  a  real  republic  was  like.  They  be- 
lieved, in  their  German  simplicity,  that  the  French  peo- 
ple who  had  proclaimed  justice  and  liberty  for  all 
would  also  respect  the  liberty  of  other  nations.  They 
soon  became  aware  of  their  mistake. 

But  there  were  other  reasons  to  prevent  the  spread 
of  revolutionary  activity  in  Germany.  One  of  these, 
already  referred  to,  was  the  fact  that  some  of  the  states 
had  had  a  series  of  good  rulers,  who  strove,  after  Fred- 
erick the  Great's  example,  for  the  welfare  of  their  peo- 
ple. The  Rechtsstaat  had  been-  established.  Though 
the  state  in  many  instances  might  be  compared  to  a 
prison,  still  the  same  regulations  were  valid  for  all, 
and  the  general  welfare  was  the  end  in  view.  Besides, 
Germany  was  not  centralized,  as  France  was;  there 
were  about  fourteen  hundred  independent  rulers  in 


XL  GERMANY  ABOUT  1800  433 

Germany,  three  hundred  of  them  sovereigns  of  states 
of  some  extent,  in  many  cases  ridiculously  small.  The 
beheading  of  only  one  monarch,  as  in  France,  would 
have  availed  little. 

But  there  are  two  reasons  of  a  somewhat  deeper 
character  which  prevented,  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  uprisings,  the  spread  of  the  French  Revolution 
through  Germany.  The  Reformation  had  introduced 
in  Germany  a  great  many  of  the  ideas  which  led  to  the 
Revolution  in  France,  and  the  German  Protestants 
felt  themselves  to  possess  the  freedom  of  thought  for 
which  their  neighbors  were  fighting.  The  other  rea- 
son is  the  spread  of  a  wonderful  optimism,  the  con- 
sequence of  the  rationalist  movement,  as  represented 
especially  by  Frederick  the  Great.  For  this  we  have 
a  testimonial  from  the  time  shortly  before  the  outbreak 
in  France,  which  is  as  expressive  as  it  could  be.  In 
1856  St.  Margaret's  Church,  in  the  city  of  Gotha, 
needed  repairs;  in  the  steeple  the  laborers  found  a 
document  written  in  1784  and  placed  there  at  the  com- 
pletion of  the  church.  It  reads  as  follows  :  — 

"Our  days  fill  the  happiest  period  of  the  Eighteenth 
Century.  Emperors,  Kings,  Princes,  descend  from 
their  proud  height,  despise  splendor  and  magnificence, 
become  fathers,  friends,  confidants  of  their  people. 
Religion  wears  the  priestly  robe  and  steps  forth  in 
her  godliness.  Enlightenment  proceeds  with  gigantic 
strides.  Thousands  of  our  brothers  and  sisters  who 
were  living  in  sacred  inactivity  are  given  back  to  the 
state.  Religious  hatred  and  compulsion  of  conscience 
are  vanishing.  Love  of  man  and  liberty  of  thought 
gain  in  power.  Arts  and  sciences  are  flourishing,  and 
our  eyes  penetrate  deeply  into  the  workshop  of  nature. 
Craftsmen  approach  perfection  as  well  as  artists.  Use- 

2F 


434  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

ful  knowledge  spreads  in  all  classes.  Here  you  have 
a  faithful  description  of  our  times."  It  is  easily  seen 
that  people  who  look  at  their  surroundings  with  such 
satisfaction  will  not  favor  a  revolution. 

But  the  real  influence  of  the  Idealist  movement  is 
shown  by  the  part  it  plays  in  the  life  of  the  nation. 
This  truly  national  culture  has  united  at  least  the  mid- 
dle classes  in  Germany,  the  poorest  members  of  which 
are  hardly  more  than  paupers  according  to  American 
standards  of  income.  Still,  the  large  mass  of  the 
uneducated  (the  lower  classes)  remains  separated  from 
the  rest.  The  great  nucleus  of  this  culture  and  society 
is  formed  by  university  men,  who  to  the  end  of  the 
nineteenth  century  decided  its  character.  But  besides 
the  professors,  the  doctors,  the  judges,  lawyers,  and 
officials,  all  with  juristic  training,  the  preachers  and 
teachers,  it  comprises  the  great  merchants  and  manu- 
facturers, and  their  employees,  if  their  education  is  up 
to  the  standard.  Money  alone  would  not  open  the 
gates  of  this  society  to  them.  A  good  education  will 
admit  the  son  of  a  lower  social  stratum ;  and  many  a 
mechanic,  even  if  he  had  to  eat  dry  bread  for  a  few  days 
every  week,  would  try  to  send  at  least  one  of  his  children 
to  the  higher  schools  to  become  "a  studied  man." 
With  education,  not  money,  the  standard,  the  percen- 
tage belonging  to  the  better  classes  has  enlarged,  and 
the  gap  between  the  classes  and  the  masses  has  to  a  very 
slight  degree  been  bridged.  It  has  shown  itself  much 
more  as  a  unifying  force  in  another  respect.  Through 
the  influence  of  the  writers  of  German  Idealism  and  the 
common  classical  ideal  of  education,  long  before  1870 
German  culture  and  science  formed  strong  ties  that 
bound  all  Germans  together  in  times  of  political  sepa- 
ration ;  and  to-day  these  ties  make  of  the  Germans  of 


XL  GERMANY  ABOUT  1800  435 

Austria  and  of  Switzerland  and  the  Baltic  provinces  of 
Russia,  even  of  those  who  have  become  citizens  of  foreign 
countries,  one  nation  with  their  brethren  of  the  German 
Empire. 

Since  the  great  times  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century  German  literature,  especially  the  great  German 
poets,  has  become  essential  to  German  life ;  they  form 
an  integral  part  of  German  education ;  the  works  of  the 
poets  and  artists  are  not  looked  upon  as  incidental  or  as 
mere  decorations.  We  have  only  one  other  example 
in  history  where  the  aesthetic  genius  of  a  nation  has 
played  such  an  important  part  in  national  life;  in 
ancient  Greece  art,  particularly  the  songs  of  Homer, 
took  the  same  place  in  education  and  culture.  For  the 
educated  German  art  does  not  belong  to  an  unreal, 
fantastic  world ;  it  is  a  means  of  discerning  the  ideal  in 
the  material  world,  "a  manifestation  of  the  Eternal  in 
the  accidental  of  matter." 


CHAPTER  XLI 

ROMANTICISM.      DOMINANT    THEORIES    OF    LIFE 

WITHIN  the  ideological  movement  people  were  not 
all  of  the  same  mind ;  and  opposition  made  itself  felt 
against  the  great  admiration  of  the  Greeks.  At  first 
the  different  currents  were  not  actually  hostile,  but 
rather  supplementary  to  each  other.  Only  in  a  later 
time  political  and  religious  party  feeling  became  so 
violent  as  to  cause  direct  antagonism ;  dissension  and 
hatred  took  the  place  of  that  broad  liberality  of  view 
which  saw  in  the  presence  of  adverse  opinion  only  an- 
other aspect  of  its  own  principle,  and  not  an  irrecon- 
cilable difference. 

The  public  did  not  at  all  take  to  Schiller  and  Goethe 
with  the  enthusiasm  we  should  assume  from  their  later 
influence.  The  poet  of  the  time  was  Jean  Paul  Richter, 
an  author  of  some  merit,  but  not  of  very  great  depth, 
not  to  mention  Iffland  and  Kotzebue,  whose  shallow 
plays  were  popular.  Richter's  descriptions  went  into 
the  minutest  details;  he  fancied  a  certain  symbolism 
which  expressed  itself  through  the  sound  of  the  words, 
and  he  was  modern  in  so  far  as  he  was  extremely  sub- 
jective. He  is  one  of  the  leadmg  humorists  in  German 
literature,  and  he  was  the  first  to  introduce  into  litera- 
ture the  social  milieu  of  the  lower  classes,  of  what  the 
Germans  call  die  kleinen  Leute.  He  was  the  fore- 
runner of  the  political  and  social  lyrics  of  a  later  period. 
But  what  appealed  most  to  his  public  was  his  sugges- 

436 


CHAP.  XLI    ROMANTICISM.    DOMINANT  THEORIES        437 

tiveness ;  he  did  not  exhaust  his  ideas,  but  always  left 
something  to  think  about. 

But  the  greatest  opposition  to  Classicism  came  from 
that  school  which  we  know  by  the  name  of  Roman- 
ticism. Romanticism  is  not  merely  a  school  of  poets, 
but  is  a  theory  of  life,  a  philosophy  that  has  held  sway 
for  a  time  not  only  over  Germany,  but  throughout  our 
entire  Western  civilization.  Like  many  new  move- 
ments in  which  the  younger  elements  take  a  leading 
part,  it  begins  with  another  "Storm  and  Stress"  period, 
though  that  name  remained  confined  to  the  preclas- 
sical  period  mentioned  before.  There  was  present  a 
strong  under-current  of  rebellion  on  the  part  of  the 
rising  generation  of  authors  against  the  crushing  weight 
of  the  authority  of  Schiller,  and  considerably  more 
against  that  of  Goethe.  The  preponderance  of  the 
latter  in  the  world  of  letters  was  so  great  that  nobody 
else  seemed  to  have  a  chance  beside  him.  The  inner 
reason  for  the  new  movement  was  again  the  strong 
contrast  between  the  ideals  that  were  upheld  and  the 
actual  conditions  of  life.  But  while  Schiller  gave  a 
positive  solution,  the  Romanticists  tried  to  free  them- 
selves of  the  contradiction  by  irony. 

The  teachings  of  the  Romanticists  did  not  lead  to 
favorable  results.  They  caused  a  certain  frivolity  and 
an  inclination  toward  hypocrisy  and  untruth.  They 
mixed  up  fiction  and  life.  They  constructed  some 
kind  of  a  fairy  world,  and  were  forever  in  pursuit  of  the 
"blue  flower"  —  die  blaue  Blume  —  oi  Romanticism, 
so  that  they  seemed  to  lose  all  sense  and  measure  for 
reality  and  truth.  But  the  most  harmful  influence  on 
the  actual  life  of  the  nation  was  the  fostering  of  reac- 
tionary tendencies.  The  Romanticists,  not  finding 
what  they  wanted,  were  more  and  more  dissatisfied  with 


438  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

their  own  times,  especially  disappointed  by  the  French 
revolution.  Many  of  them  let  their  predilections  for 
medisevalism  influence  them  to  such  an  extent  that  they 
joined  the  Catholic  Church  —  more  from  aesthetic  than 
religious  motives  —  and  made  the  world,  themselves 
included,  believe  that  the  Middle  Ages  had  truly  been 
the  tune  of  ideal  life.  In  trying  to  bring  back  mediaeval 
tunes  they  furnished  a  sort  of  philosophical  foundation 
for  the  anti-liberal  spirit  which  ruled  Germany  for  so 
long,  and  which  is  in  evidence  to  the  present  day.  It 
was  one  of  their  leaders,  Novalis,  who  promulgated  that 
baneful  doctrine  of  the  natural  alliance  between  throne 
and  altar,  the  federation  between  monarchy  and  Church, 
which  teaches  that  kings  receive  their  power  directly 
from  divinity,  whose  instruments  they  are.  This  belief 
does  not  come  down  to  us  directly  as  a  relic  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  It  has  no  actual  force  in  the  times  of  the 
Enlightenment.  But  since  Novalis  and  his  followers 
the  principles  of  Frederick  the  Great  were  forgotten; 
the  Church  and  the  monarchy  again  became  allies,  and 
a  rebellion  against  the  throne  was  regarded  as  a  sin 
against  God. 

This  will  explain  the  attitude  of  political  liberals 
in  Germany  towards  the  Church,  both  Protestant  and 
Catholic ;  they  learned  to  see  in  the  clergy  the  natural 
allies  —  and  justly  so  —  of  reactionary  powers,  while 
in  America,  the  home  of  emigrants  persecuted  for  their 
religion,  we  are  rather  inclined  to  connect  the  origin  of 
our  liberties  with  Church  influences. 

The  theory  of  organic  historic  development,  fruitful 
as  it  has  been,  induced  the  Romanticists  to  place  an 
emphasis  on  the  past  and  the  sacredness  of  historic 
institutions  which  has  helped  to  prevent  healthy  devel- 
opment in  a  great  many  directions,  and  has  made  of 


xn  ROMANTICISM.    DOMINANT  THEORIES  439 

historism  an  impediment  in  the  path  of  progress  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the 
movement  has  had  its  merits  for  Germany.  It  called 
attention  to  the  greatness  of  German  antiquity.  The 
glory  of  mediaeval  Germany  was  almost  forgotten; 
the  fact  that  there  had  been  a  wonderful  German  litera- 
ture centuries  ago  was  as  good  as  unknown.  It  is 
due  to  the  Romantic  school  that  it  was  rediscovered. 
Likewise  hi  art,  especially  in  music,  its  influence  has 
some  merits. 

In  looking  for  the  imaginary  romantic  flower  the 
Romanticists  did  not  overlook  actual  nature;  prin- 
cipally as  disciples  of  Rousseau,  they  enhanced  greatly 
the  love  for  natural  beauty,  they  made  poetry  more 
natural,  and  helped  to  make  the  study  of  nature  more 
popular.  As  their  third  great  merit,  we  must  regard 
their  successful  efforts  in  arousing  active  patriotism,  hi 
giving  expression  to  the  latent  patriotism  of  the  people. 
The  patriotic  poems  and  songs  of  the  wars  of  liberation 
from  the  rule  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte  were  mostly 
written  under  Romantic  influence ;  Koernerand  Uhland, 
whose  ballads  are  part  of  the  German  canon  as  well  as 
those  of  Schiller,  were  Romanticists,  as  well  as  the 
whole  so-called  Suabian  school  of  poets,  though  they 
are  more  healthy  hi  their  general  tone.  The  whole 
science  of  Germanistic  philology  is  due  to  this  influ- 
ence, and  out  of  this  again  proceeded,  besides  the  study 
of  Indian  philosophy  and  Sanscrit,  comparative  phi- 
lology, the  modern  science  which  revealed  to  us  the 
culture  treasures  deposited  in  language. 

Romanticism,  however,  did  not  turn  the  mind 
toward  the  actual  problems  of  life,  any  more  than  clas- 
sicism had  done.  The  Ideal  ruled  supreme.  The  poor 


440  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

economic  conditions  subsequent  to  the  French  period 
favored  more  than  ever  the  turning  away  from  life. 
The  bel  esprit,  the  man  of  literary  spirit,  —  we  might 
call  him  the  "  literary  snob,"  —  began  to  appear.  The 
greatest  recreation  of  the  quiet  citizen  was  the  reading 
of  periodicals,  while  a  real  passion  was  developed  for 
the  theatre.  It  was  then  that  the  cult  of  woman  took 
its  loftiest  flight.  Some  of  them  gamed  considerable 
influence  over  German  literary  life,  and  even  dabbled 
in  politics,  —  a  few  were  quite  worthy  of  then1  fame, 
although  not  always  to  the  advantage  of  the  object  of 
their  interest. 

We  have,  then,  in  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  not  only  the  great  number  of  faithful  Protes- 
tants and  Catholics ;  in  the  educated  part  of  the  nation, 
and  radiating  beyond,  the  nationalist  as  well  as  the 
classic-idealistic  theories  have  their  adherents,  and 
they  are  joined  by  the  Romanticists.  All  of  these 
currents  go  down  to  the  present  time  without  having 
found  a  new  and  convincing  solution  for  their  problems. 
They  have  held  the  foremost  place  in  the  minds  of  all 
thinking  people,  sharing  it  only  spasmodically  with  the 
political  conditions  of  the  nation,  until  the  social  ques- 
tion arose  and  laid  claim  to  the  interests  and  energy  of 
the  greatest  intellects  of  the  times. 

As  manifold  as  those  tendencies  are  the  moral  ideals 
of  the  people.  The  faithful  Christians  believe  in  the 
good,  and  try  to  lead  a  virtuous  life  because  such  is  the 
command  of  God ;  the  rationalist  ideal  is  a  twofold 
one,  it  may  be  either  purely  utilitarian,  teaching  us  to 
do  what  is  useful  to  us,  as  Bacon  proposes,  or  it  may 
be  the  philanthropical  ideal,  of  which  Thomas  Paine  is 
the  English  representative ;  while  with  Leibnitz  it  had 
taken  the  form  of  self-perfection.  We  find  further- 


XLI  ROMANTICISM.    DOMINANT  THEORIES  441 

more,  as  essentially  German,  the  ideal  of  self-determi- 
nation, which  leaves  the  decision  of  what  is  good  or  bad 
to  ourselves,  which  finds  its  highest  formulation  in 
Kant's  categorical  imperative. 

All  these  different  currents,  though  not  always  on 
the  surface  in  equal  strength,  run  through  the  century, 
and  are  at  work  to-day.  The  fight  is  still  going  on 
between  liberty  and  authority,  between  the  ideal  and 
the  real.  It  is  therefore  not  astonishing  that  people 
of  different  convictions  looking  for  a  safe  guide  join 
in  the  cry:  "Return  to  Kant!  Let  us  make  a  new 
start  from  the  solid  ground  which  he  created  for  pure 
Reason." 


CHAPTER   XLII 

DOWNFALL    AND    RISE.      LIBERALISM.      POLITICAL 
REACTION  WITHIN.      WEAKNESS   WITHOUT 

WE  have  seen  that  with  the  death  of  Frederick 
the  Great  the  first  reactionary  tendencies  set  in. 
Of  all  the  Prussian  kings  his  successor  was  the  weak- 
est and  meanest.  In  an  incredibly  short  time  he 
squandered  the  forty  million  thalers  that  Frederick 
saved  during  the  years  of  peace,  and  thus  set  a  de- 
moralizing example  to  the  whole  people.  Morally 
much  better  was  his  successor,  Frederick  William  III, 
but  he  lacked  the  energy  and  the  power  of  mind  to 
continue  and  vitalize  the  traditions  of  Frederick. 
Lacking  the  spirit  of  its  creator,  the  Prussian  state  and 
military  system  became  petrified;  it  became  a  system 
of  heavy  iron  chains  which,  by  its  schematism,  bound 
and  suppressed  the  free  initiative  of  the  people  as  well 
as  the  officials.  Besides,  the  great  successes  of  Fred- 
erick the  Great  in  war  had  given  the  army  the  opinion 
that  it  was  invincible  without  the  need  of  combined 
effort  for  improvement  —  the  greatest  mistake  an  army 
can  make.  The  result  was  the  great  crash  when  the 
Prussian  army  was  defeated  by  Napoleon  and  the 
Prussian  state  crushed  to  ruins;  now  the  eyes  of  the 
people  were  opened  to  the  true  condition  of  things. 

It  is  true  that  the  period  following  the  battle  of  Jena 
in  1806  is  justly  called  the  tune  of  Prussia's  greatest 
downfall;  but  looking  at  its  consequences,  we  may 

442 


CHAP.  XLII  DOWNFALL  AND  RISE  443 

call  it  just  as  well  the  time  of  Prussia's  rejuvenation. 
In  spite  of  disastrous  appearances  there  must  have 
remained  alive  in  this  German  people  something  that 
could  not  be  destroyed,  some  life  force  that  needed  only 
to  be  rediscovered  and  aroused.  Otherwise  it  would 
have  been  impossible  that  things  changed  for  the  better 
as  fast  as  they  did.  It  is  not  so  astonishing  that  the 
power  and  greatness  created  by  Frederick  the  Great 
should  have  withered  within  twenty  years  as  it  is  that 
within  six  or  seven  years  after  the  battle  of  Jena  the  na- 
tion should  have  completely  recovered  from  the  terrible 
misfortune  that  had  befallen  it. 

When  the  disaster  had  happened,  people  asked  them- 
selves :  "  Why  has  this  ruin  come  on  us  ?"  They  were 
not  satisfied  to  blame  their  officers  and  statesmen, 
but  they  felt  that  there  was  some  disease  of  the  national 
body.  The  people  took  no  pride  in  their  nation  because 
they  had  no  voice  in  deciding  their  fate;  besides,  the 
mass  of  the  people  lacked  personal  independence. 
For  a  remedy  German  Idealism,  just  then  at  its  height, 
offered  itself ;  the  national  leaders  went  to  the  teachings 
of  Classicism  for  help.  No  less  a  person  than  Napo- 
leon himself  confesses  to  the  wisdom  of  this  step ;  he 
himself  expressed  his  conviction  that  he  owed  his  defeat 
to  the  "  German  Ideologists."  The  principle  of  Kant, 
who  emphasized  so  strongly  that  every  one  was  respon- 
sible for  his  own  deeds,  was  one  of  the  most  effective 
means  to  raise  the  moral  character  of  the  people. 
Moreover,  the  Prussian  statesmen  were  broad-minded 
enough  to  learn  from  the  French  Revolution ;  and  it  has 
been  said  that  they  attempted  to  realize  its  principles 
from  above,  as  the  French  people  had  tried  to  introduce 
them  from  below.  The  first  step  in  this  direction  was 
the  abolishment  of  hereditary  serfdom ;  the  second  was 


444  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

the  emancipation  of  the  Jews,  who  have  become  full 
citizens  in  most  German  states  since  1812. 

But  as  the  German  is  not  inclined  towards  centraliza- 
tion, self-government  was  not  immediately  introduced 
into  national  affairs ;  it  was  started  in  a  smaller  circle. 
It  began  with  home  rule ;  the  people  were  left  to  settle 
their  own  affairs  in  cities  and  towns.  In  the  exercise 
of  municipal  self-government  they  received  a  good 
education  for  democracy,  which  resulted  in  the  intro- 
duction of  general  suffrage,  with  the  foundation  of  the 
North  German  Federation  and  the  German  Empire. 

Nearly  as  important  as  the  establishment  of  home 
rule  in  the  political  field,  and,  at  first,  working  just  as 
unobtrusively,  was  another  measure  of  the  greatest 
consequence  for  economic  development :  compulsory 
membership  in  the  guilds  was  abolished,  giving  every 
man  the  free  choice  of  his  calling  and  the  right  of 
competition;  though  this  Gewerbefreiheit  was  to  mani- 
fest its  greatest  influence  in  a  later  period.  Following 
the  teachings  of  scholars  who  saw  in  history  an  organic 
development  that  will  not  proceed  by  bounds  and 
leaps,  the  Germans  tried  to  introduce  democratic  insti- 
tutions by  degrees. 

Another  step  was  the  improvement  of  the  education 
of  the  middle  classes.  Seeing  that  they  must  have 
leaders,  if  they  wanted  to  raise  an  efficient  people,  they 
turned  for  a  brighter  ideal  in  education  to  Greek 
antiquity,  to  classical  education,  consisting  not  in  the 
teaching  of  grammar  or  in  a  cool  admiration  of  the 
works  of  literature  and  art,  but  in  a  resuscitation  of  the 
entire  Greek  life.  Like  the  Greeks,  the  Germans  were 
to  live  as  a  free  people,  harmoniously  developing  all 
their  faculties,  following  the  paths  of  nature. 

The  separate  education  of  the  nobility,  which  existed 


XLII  DOWNFALL  AND  RISE  445 

up  to  that  time,  was  abolished.  Before  the  beginning 
of  the  century  the  children  of  noblemen  were  not,  as  a 
rule,  trained  together  with  the  children  of  the  other 
people  in  the  secondary  schools,  but  there  were  special 
schools  for  the  aristocracy,  so-called  Ritter-Akade- 
mien.  These  were  now  opened  to  the  sons  of  all  classes, 
and  thus  the  gap  between  the  nobility  and  the  middle 
classes  became  less  wide;  their  sons  were  taught  to 
think  alike,  and  consequently  learned  to  understand 
each  other  better.  In  our  days  the  sons  of  the  Imperial 
family  are  not  thought  to  degrade  themselves  by  attend- 
ing the  same  school  as  the  sons  of  then-  subjects;  the 
present  Emperor  was  the  first  Prussian  prince  to  study 
at  the  gymnasium  and  to  pass  his  examination  like 
any  other  student.  Thus  the  upper  classes  became 
more  compact ;  but  the  greater  gulf  between  the  higher 
and  lower  social  strata  remained,  and  exists  to-day ; 
it  has  become  even  more  distinct  by  a  new  movement, 
aided  by  the  organization  of  which  I  shall  speak  pres- 
ently. 

One  of  the  most  incisive  measures  dictated  by  the 
necessities  of  the  tune,  which  has  become  a  permanent 
institution  among  nearly  all  European  nations,  was  the 
introduction  of  compulsory  general  military  service, 
which  called  every  Prussian  under  arms  for  three  years, 
a  system  which  no  doubt  has  its  great  disadvantages, 
but  which  hi  all  these  times  has  been  a  wonderful  means 
of  knitting  the  people  together,  and  of  training  them  hi 
the  feeling  of  being  a  part  of  a  greater  organization,  in 
short,  a  training  in  discipline  and  patriotism. 

Thus  an  institution,  intended  for  national  defence,  has 
become  a  means  of  national  education.  In  spite  of  the 
warlike  spirit  inherited  from  their  ancestors  only  the 
force  of  an  absolute  national  necessity,  taught  by  long 


446  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

periods  of  humiliation  and  misery,  can  have  made  the 
self-annihilation,  as  demanded  by  military  discipline, 
palatable  to  the  German ;  and  when  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  war  against  Napoleon  was  past,  and  when  it 
became  evident  that  the  people  had  been  robbed  of  the 
results  of  their  sacrifices,  of  then-  bravery,  and  of  their 
victory,  the  discontent  with  the  burden,  which  seemed 
principally  a  means  by  which  the  government  held  down 
the  masses,  became  great,  at  tunes  almost  unbearable. 
This  sentiment  has  now,  however,  almost  entirely 
disappeared,  since  the  wars  that  led  to  German  unity 
have  shown  the  advantage  of  the  institution,  and  the 
Germans  of  to-day  are  inclined  to  attribute  not  only  the 
unity  and  the  greatness  of  the  Empire,  but  also  a  great 
part  of  their  political  progress  and  increasing  economic 
prosperity  directly  or  indirectly  to  their  army  and  to  its 
training.  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  militarism 
penetrates  German  life  to  an  alarming  degree,  and  the 
spirit  of  external  subordination,  transferred  from  the 
barracks  into  civil  life,  tends  to  be  an  impediment  to 
true  progress  and  independence  of  character.  Besides, 
there  are  a  great  many  other  abuses  concomitant  to 
militarism.  One  of  its  great  disadvantages  for  German 
national  life  is  the  strengthening  of  the  class  spirit, 
since  the  accentuation  of  the  superiority  of  the  officer 
to  the  private  or  the  non-commissioned  officer  has 
entered  social  life  as  a  new  dividing  line.  A  certain 
degree  of  education  grants  the  privilege  of  doing  active 
service  for  one  year  only.  Those  privileged  in  this 
manner  return  to  civil  life  as  officers  of  the  reserve,  a 
qualification  which  has  become  a  new  claim  for  social 
distinction,  rendering  the  reconciliation  of  the  classes 
more  and  more  difficult.  These  officers  of  the  reserve 
retard,  too,  the  development  of  free  political  institutions, 


XLII  DOWNFALL  AND  RISE  447 

since  any  political  affiliations  at  variance  with  the  rul- 
ing powers  appear  to  many  of  them  almost  a  breach  of 
military  discipline. 

But  no  matter  how  just  the  criticisms  against  the  un- 
democratic features  of  militarism  as  developed  in  Ger- 
many, the  army  composed  of  the  youth  of  the  nation  has 
become  such  an  integral  part  of  the  new  fatherland,  of 
which  it  has  formed  a  constitutional  element  from  its 
birth,  that  the  present  generation  will  not  listen  to  any 
plans  of  abolishing  or  even  curtailing  it.  General 
and  compulsory  military  service  is  looked  upon  as  a 
duty  as  much  as  the  paying  of  taxes,  even  more  so ;  the 
cases  of  shirking  this  duty  are  not  frequent;  for  the 
few  who  want  to  do  so  we  find  at  least  as  many  who 
complain  when  some  physical  defect  debars  them  from 
the  honor  of  serving  their  country.  Even  the  socialists 
are  proud,  at  bottom,  of  having  served  their  time,  and 
their  leaders  know  very  well  that  hi  case  of  a  national 
war  they  would  lose  all  control  over  them  if  they  tried 
to  persuade  them  to  leave  their  country  hi  tune  of  need. 
These  are  stubborn  facts  with  which  the  advocates  of 
disarmament  will  have  to  deal. 

In  order  to  understand  this  attitude  of  the  Germans 
towards  their  army  it  must  be  remembered  that  from  the 
tune  of  the  national  downfall  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War, 
Germany  was  treated  without  any  respect  whatever 
by  the  foreign  governments ;  in  fact,  for  a  tune  it  was 
not  without  justice  called  a  French  province.  Twenty 
military  invasions  by  the  French  in  times  of  peace  can 
be  counted  in  a  little  over  one  century.  But  the 
people  were  perfectly  indifferent ;  their  national  spirit 
was  weakened  to  such  an  extent  that  not  even  the  most 
flagrant  injustice  could  arouse  their  resentment.  Fred- 
erick, however,  and  again  the  successes  of  the  Wars  of 


448  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

Liberation  taught  them  that  this  condition  of  things 
was  not  an  unavoidable  one.  They  knew  their  strength 
and  smarted  under  the  contempt,  the  insults  that  had 
been  inflicted  upon  their  nation  again  and  again  by  the 
great  powers  as  long  as  the  jealousy  of  the  German 
princes  prevented  German  unity  and  assertion  of 
strength.  Their  study  of  history  showed  them  not 
only  the  possibilities  of  better  times,  as  Germany 
had  known  them  in  the  past,  but  also  brought  home  to 
them  the  continuous  chain  of  foreign  inroads  on  their 
national  rights,  of  foreign  violation  of  International 
Law,  and  even  of  solemn  treaties.  It  will  take  a  long 
time  before  the  Germans  will  forget  this  experience  of 
three  hundred  years ;  a  long  period  will  be  necessary  in 
which  the  actual  policy  of  the  great  powers  will  have  to 
prove  that  they  are  sincere  in  their  assertion  of  peaceful- 
ness  and  the  admission  of  the  equal  rights  of  Germany 
in  the  concert  of  the  nations  and  in  the  markets  of  the 
world.  The  lesson,  that  they  will  be  sure  of  justice  and 
respect  only  as  long  as  they  are  strong  enough  to  exact 
them,  has  been  too  long  forced  upon  them  by  cruel 
realities  to  be  forgotten  for  a  promise  of  mutual  trust 
held  out  to  them,  but  not  corroborated  by  any  facts. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  critics  of  the  great  standing 
army  must  not  forget  the  difference  between  the  army 
of  mercenaries  and  a  " nation  in  arms,"  as  represented 
by  the  German  army.  Bismarck  himself  pointed  out 
that  with  an  army  built  up  on  the  principle  of  general 
and  compulsory  service,  a  government  must  be  exceed- 
ingly careful  before  entangling  the  country  in  any  war. 
When  every  family  in  the  land  will  be  compelled  to 
send  a  father,  husband,  son,  or  brother  to  the  field  of 
battle,  people  want  to  know  whether  the  safety  of  the 
country  is  really  at  stake.  And,  indeed,  the  average 


XLII  DOWNFALL  AND  RISE  449 

German  looks  at  the  army  only  as  a  means  of  defence, 
as  a  guarantee  of  national  safety  and  peace.  The 
century  since  the  establishment  of  this  institution  in 
Prussia  does  certainly  not  uphold  the  claim  that  a 
standing  army  is  a  temptation  to  wanton  war,  while  it 
may  have  led,  now  and  then,  to  an  undue  pressure  of 
certain  demands  without  sufficiently  ascertaining  their 
fairness.  This,  however,  is  made  possible  only  by  the 
fact  that  diplomacy  still  feels  itself  more  representative 
of  the  government  than  of  the  people.  It  is  a  risky 
game  they  play.  For  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  is  decidedly  set  against  any  war 
whatever,  and  if  they  find  that  militarism,  maintained 
at  such  tremendous  sacrifice  as  the  safeguard  of  peace, 
does  not  accomplish  its  purpose,  the  present  system  of 
government  will  be  seriously  endangered.  The  con- 
viction is  widely  spread  among  the  common  people  in 
Germany  that  the  next  war,  even  if  righteous  and 
victorious,  will  be  the  end  of  monarchy.  Not  only  the 
social  democrats,  but  also  the  middle-class  parties, 
begin  to  protest  against  the  ever-increasing  burden  of 
armaments,  and  views  which  a  few  years  ago  were 
ridiculed  as  Utopian  dreams  find  now  respectful  atten- 
tion in  the  Reichstag  and  are  discussed  by  the  govern- 
ment. There  were  four  millions  and  a  quarter  socialist 
votes  cast  at  the  election  January,  1912 ;  it  will  certainly 
be  a  severe  test  for  the  monarchical  system  when  it  has 
to  confess  its  inability  to  avoid  a  war  in  spite  of  the  heavy 
insurance  premium  paid  by  the  people  in  the  shape  of 
the  greatest  military  establishment  the  world  has  ever 
seen. 

But  the  greatest  achievement  at  this  time  of  rejuve- 
nation was  the  final  and  successful  establishment  of 
compulsory  education  in  Prussia.  Efforts  in  this  direc- 

2G 


450  HISTORY^  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

tion  had  been  made  by  many  German  princes,  but  they 
had  no  general  and  lasting  success.  One  of  the  influ- 
ences at  work  against  a  general  popular  education  - 
strange  enough  at  first  sight,  but  noticeable  wherever 
the  question  first  becomes  of  public  interest  —  was  the 
opposition  on  the  part  of  the  clergy.  They  claimed  that 
it  was  against  the  divine  order  of  things  that  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  the  people  should  receive  any  educa- 
tion. But  after  the  lesson  taught  by  the  great  national 
disaster  of  1806  all  opposition  became  silent. 

With  the  establishment  of  the  people's  schools, 
Volksschulen,  begins  the  work  of  that  group  of  men 
whom  I  do  not  hesitate  to  place  as  high  as  any  single 
class  of  men  in  the  world ;  to  wit,  of  the  German  school- 
masters who,  with  wages  hardly  large  enough  to  keep 
off  starvation,  have  for  generations  upheld  in  the  schools 
the  spirit  of  progress  and  liberty,  the  ideals  of  German 
unity  and  patriotism,  often  persecuted  by  their  superiors 
for  what  they  did  for  their  pupils.  When  we  con- 
sider that  only  a  few  years  ago  it  was  officially  stated 
that  there  were  in  Prussia  one  thousand  teachers  who 
had  a  salary  of  less  than  fifty  dollars  a  year,  and  three 
thousand  with  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
a  year,  we  will  not  be  sparing  in  our  admiration  for 
the  unselfish  greatness  of  these  men.  There  has 
been  a  time  when  in  German  Normal  Schools  it  was 
forbidden  to  read  the  works  of  Schiller  and  Goethe, 
because  they  were  a  danger  to  the  Christian  faith; 
the  same  reactionary  spirit  in  the  Prussian  Depart- 
ment of  Education  makes  it  possible  that  in  the  same 
schools  to-day  the  reading  of  Hauptmann,  Sudermann, 
and  other  modern  writers  is  forbidden.  But  in  spite 
of  official  censure  the  teachers  never  ceased  teaching 
their  pupils,  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  common 


XLII  DOWNFALL  AND  RISE  451 

people,  the  beauties  of  the  great  poets,  the  high  ideals  of 
liberty  and  progress ;  in  short,  the  message  of  German 
Idealism.  (A  student  in  a  Catholic  normal  school  in 
Bavaria  was  disciplined  for  reading  " Faust"  while  this 
book  was  in  preparation.) 

But  when  the  great  reform  was  first  introduced 
after  Jena,  the  authorities  were  less  narrow-minded 
and  saw  in  the  very  things  their  successors  persecuted 
the  salvation  of  their  country.  The  man  to  whom  they 
turned  for  assistance  was  Pestalozzi,  the  great  educator, 
who  based  his  pedagogy  not  on  text-books,  but  on  the 
living  child  itself.  The  great  aim  of  German  Idealism, 
the  harmonious  development  of  the  whole  personality, 
was  his  ideal  in  education.  The  Prussian  government 
engaged  teachers  who  had  learned  methods  from  Pesta- 
lozzi himself  and  who  had  imbibed  his  ideas ;  at  the  same 
time  promising  young  men  were  sent  to  his  institution 
to  be  trained  by  him.  Prussia,  by  the  way,  was  not  the 
only  country  which  in  times  of  need  sought  help  from 
the  pedagogy  of  Pestalozzi,  wTho  probably  would  not 
be  able  to  pass  examination  to  secure  a  teacher's  position 
in  an  American  city  school  to-day,  and  surely  would  re- 
ceive the  poorest  marking  by  his  superintendent ;  but 
nevertheless  Switzerland  in  1837,  Austria  after  1866, 
France  after  1871,  have  rejuvenated  their  national  life 
by  adopting  the  "  Pestalozzian "  school. 

In  these  serious  efforts  of  self-improvement  the 
spirit  of  resentment  against  foreign  oppression  was  still 
more  inflamed  by  the  patriotic  songs,  and  a  whole  group 
of  young  poets  gave  greater  vigor  to  their  words  by 
taking  up  arms  for  their  country.  These  measures  of 
the  Prussian  government,  of  which  Stein,  Hardenberg, 
Scharnhorst,  and  Wilhelm  von  Humboldt  were  the 
leading  spirits,  were  supplemented  by  the  patriotic  en- 


452  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

deavors  of  a  great  many  others  of  the  educated  class. 
Three  names  deserve  special  mention  in  this  connection  : 
Friedrich  Ludwig  Jahn  developed  a  special  system 
of  gymnastics,  which  he  called  by  a  new  German  word 
Turnen,  to  strengthen  the  German  youths  for  the 
defence  of  their  country  and  liberty,  while  at  the  same 
tune  he  aroused  their  patriotism  in  his  writings,  and 
preached  to  the  Germans  the  gospel  of  their  nationality. 
Ernst  Moritz  Arndt  inspired  his  countrymen  in  poetry 
and  prose  to  enthusiasm  and  self-sacrifice  for  liberty 
and  fatherland.  And  the  philosopher  Fichte  in  the 
city  of  Berlin,  directly  under  the  eyes  of  the  French  con- 
querors, delivered  his  famous  "Addresses  to  the  Ger- 
man Nation."  Now  German  Idealism,  that  seemed  so 
far  removed  from  the  arena  of  actual  politics,  showed 
its  power  in  arousing  true  patriotic  enthusiasm.  Es- 
pecially Schiller's  "Jungfrau  von  Orleans"  and  "Wil- 
helm  Tell"  awakened  and  strengthened  the  feeling  of 
national  honor  and  love  of  country. 

Before  the  administrative  reforms  were  enforced  or 
had  apparently  time  to  become  efficient,  a  wonderful 
change  came  over  the  people.  In  a  few  years  the  new 
spirit  was  strong  enough  to  become  an  active  force  in  the 
national  development.  In  1812,  after  Napoleon  had 
been  defeated  in  Russia,  the  people  took  up  arms 
against  the  will  of  their  king,  who  felt  himself  bound 
by  his  treaties.  But  the  king  was  compelled  to  adopt 
the  views  of  his  subjects,  and  placed  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  army.  An  enthusiasm  arose  which  is  not  al- 
together unheard  of  in  history,  I  am  glad  to  say,  but 
nevertheless  very  rare.  All  classes  rivalled  in  showing 
their  patriotic  spirit  and  their  readiness  to  sacrifice 
everything  for  their  country.  Even  the  women  gave 
up  not  only  their  jewels,  receiving  iron  rings  in  place  of 


XLII  DOWNFALL  AND  RISE  453 

the  silver  and  gold  wedding  rings,  but  also  their  golden 
hair ;  some  in  man's  apparel  enlisted  in  the  army  and 
died  on  the  battlefield.  For  years  after  the  war  no 
silver  was  to  be  seen  in  the  better  households,  and  if 
by  an  oversight  some  piece  of  silver  was  left,  its  owner 
was  ashamed  to  let  it  be  known.  How  unjust  it  is  to 
say  that  the  German  scholars  kept  aloof  from  the  popu- 
lar movement,  in  spite  of  some  famous  instances  like 
Hegel  the  philosopher,  may  be  inferred  from  the  little 
story  which  shows  us  three  famous  men,  the  philologist 
Buttmann,  the  philosopher  Fichte,  and  the  theologian 
Schleiermacher,  on  the  training  grounds,  drilling  as 
plain  private  soldiers,  and  it  is  said  that  it  was 
not  easy  for  their  great  minds  to  grasp  the  intri- 
cacies of  elementary  tactics,  and  that  frequently  they 
insisted  upon  placing  their  guns  on  the  left  shoulder 
when  the  command  called  for  the  right,  and  vice  versa. 

This  patriotic  movement,  however,  at  first  took  hold 
only  of  the  north  of  Germany.  The  princes  of  the 
Rhenish  Alliance,  Rheinbund,  found  it  to  their  ad- 
vantage to  remain  loyal  to  Napoleon,  to  whom  they 
were  considerably  indebted,  while  many  of  their  sub- 
jects left  their  homes  to  join  the  armies  of  the  North. 
Only  when  the  success  of  the  allied  armies  against  Napo- 
leon made  the  latter's  downfall  certain  they  remembered 
that  they,  too,  were  Germans. 

As  to  the  people,  they  looked  upon  this  war  as  a 
holy  war;  the  army  with  its  Christian  spirit  reminds 
one  very  much  of  the  armies  of  Cromwell.  There  is  a 
strong  element  of  the  so-called  "Christian-Germanic" 
spirit  in  this  movement  which,  especially  in  modern 
times,  does  not  always  escape  a  certain  fanaticism. 
The  clergy,  principally  the  Protestant  clergy,  formed 
a  vanguard  of  the  people. 


454  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

The  influence  of  public  education  was  so  great,  and 
the  popular  spirit  displayed  so  wonderful,  that  the 
princes  had  seen  fit  to  promise  their  people  constitu- 
tions, but  soon  their  promises  were  forgotten. 

A  great  disappointment  filled  all  the  patriots  when  the 
princes  were  unable  to  guard  German  interests  in  the 
Vienna  Congress.  Germany,  which  had  done  the  hard- 
est and  the  decisive  work  in  the  defeat  of  Napoleon,  was 
here  robbed  of  the  results  of  her  victories.  The  moving 
spirit  of  that  Congress  was  Talleyrand,  the  famous 
French  statesman,  who  represented  the  very  nation  that 
had  been  defeated,  but  who,  supported  by  the  other 
great  powers,  prevented  Germany  from  attaining  that 
which  all  her  patriots  desired  and  expected.  A  united 
Germany  with  a  prospect  of  national  vigor  was  not 
what  her  neighbors  wanted.  They  prevented  the 
return  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine  to  Germany,  the  greater 
part  of  which  had  been  taken  by  France  in  times  of 
peace ;  they  prevented  the  rounding  out  of  Prussian 
territory  so  that  it  would  consist  of  one  continuous 
stretch  of  land,  and  in  spite  of  all  military  success  Ger- 
many came  out  of  this  conflict,  the  burden  of  which 
had  been  hers,  weaker  than  she  had  been  before.  The 
German  Empire  was  given  up  by  name  in  1806,  as  it 
had  perished  in  fact  centuries  ago. 

Of  course  there  was  a  great  and  widespread  feeling 
of  dissatisfaction  with  the  princes,  but  when  the  ex- 
citement of  patriotic  enthusiasm  subsided  with  the 
war,  the  political  energy  aroused  by  it  had  not 
taken  root  firmly  enough,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
spirit  of  loyalty  and  discipline  was  too  strong  to  allow 
the  people  to  rise  in  rebellion  as  they  ought  to  have 
done.  Besides,  it  took  some  time  before  they  realized 
that  the  delays  actually  meant  a  complete  denial  of  the 


XLII  DOWNFALL  AND  RISE  455 

former  promises.  Though  the  Napoleonic  policy  had 
somewhat  benefited  inland  commerce  by  the  exclusion 
of  British  merchandise,  the  gains  had  been  spent  in  the 
War  of  Liberation,  and  English  competition  brought 
an  economical  weakening  of  the  continent  in  the  first 
years  after  the  Vienna  Congress,  and  the  resulting 
poverty  helped  to  break  the  spirit  of  the  people. 

But  the  conviction  was  settled  that  the  time  for  pater- 
nal government  was  over.  The  ideas  of  Liberalism  took 
hold  of  the  people,  especially  of  the  middle  classes.  Up 
to  this  time  there  had  been  no  political  parties  whatever 
in  Germany;  interest  in  politics  had  been  almost  en- 
tirely lacking.  Now  a  liberal  and  a  conservative  party 
began  to  form.  The  liberal  party  recruited  itself  prin- 
cipally from  the  middle  class  with  its  ideals  rooting  in 
Rationalism  and  Classicism,  believing  in  a  constitutional 
but  not  a  republican  government.  The  great  conflict 
between  liberalism  and  absolutism  began.  Absolutism, 
burdened  with  the  broken  pledges  of  the  princes,  at 
first  was  victorious  by  the  strength  of  military  and 
police  power.  This  treachery  of  the  princes  has  been 
called  by  Richard  Wagner  the  blackest  ingratitude 
found  in  human  history.  The  monarchs  of  Russia, 
Austria,  Prussia,  and  France  united  in  the  Holy  Alliance 
to  protect  their  people  against  the  tendencies  of  the 
French  Revolution.  The  Czar  and  the  Austrian  Prime 
Minister,  Count  Metternich,  were  the  champions  of 
the  reactionary  spirit,  and  then*  influence  ruled  all 
over  Europe,  but  especially  in  Germany.  The  national 
ideals  which  led  to  the  liberation  of  the  fatherland  now 
appeared  dangerous.  The  greatest  patriots  of  Ger- 
many, men  like  Ernst  Moritz  Arndt,  Friedrich  Ludwig 
Jahn,  and  others,  were  persecuted.  The  period  begins 
when  many  of  the  best  minds  of  Germany  were  com- 


456  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

pelled  to  seek  abroad  the  liberty  their  fatherland  with- 
held from  them.  Some  of  them  returned  under  more 
favorable  circumstances ;  as,  for  instance,  List,  the 
national  economist,  who,  having  lived  in  the  United 
States  for  some  time,  was  destined  to  render  the  most 
valuable  services  to  his  people  after  his  return  under  an 
amnesty.  Others  were  lost  forever  to  the  land  of 
their  birth  and  devoted  their  talents  to  the  country  that 
offered  them  a  hospitable  welcome.  Amongst  the  po- 
litical refugees  of  this  long  reactionary  period  Francis 
Lieber,  an  authority  on  International  Law,  was  one  of 
the  first  to  make  his  home  in  America.  He  became  pro- 
fessor in  Columbia  College  and  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  was  called  by  Lincoln  to  frame  the  rules  of 
military  law  during  the  Civil  War.  To  mention  more 
names  would  take  too  much  of  our  space. 

The  Vienna  Congress  left  Germany  as  a  very  loose 
federation  of  states,  whose  organ  was  the  Bundes- 
tag, the  Council  of  the  Federated  Governments, 
which  were  represented  by  permanent  delegates  or 
ministers,  a  permanent  body  which  was  virtually  a 
continuation  of  the  old  Reichstag,  with  its  seat  in 
Frankfort-on-the-Main.  Most  of  its  time  was  spent 
in  considering  the  best  means  of  suppressing  the  liberal 
tendencies  in  Germany. 

Rome,  i.e.,  the  Pope,  emerged  from  the  Vienna  Con- 
gress greatly  strengthened.  It  was  the  time  when 
Romanticism  was  in  the  ascendency.  The  Church 
regained  a  great  deal  of  influence,  lost  since  the  days 
of  Louis  XIV,  partly  because  the  monarchs  saw  in  the 
Church  one  of  their  strongest  supports  against  modern 
ideas.  It  was  the  so-called  last  Rationalist,  dry,  old 
Nicolai,  whose  sharp  eyes  had,  years  ago,  recognized 
the  danger  of  Jesuitism,  as  an  outcome  of  Romanticism. 


XLII  DOWNFALL  AND  RISE  457 

The  Jesuit  order  was  reinstalled  in  1814.  In  Germany 
the  rule  of  the  French  had  brought  about  a  consolidation 
into  a  smaller  number  of  states,  so  that  there  were  only 
thirty-six  instead  of  three  hundred  sovereigns ;  the  secu- 
lar rule  of  the  Church  was  at  an  end  everywhere,  and  the 
Bishops  and  other  dignitaries  who  had  been  German 
princes  were  only  priests  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  so 
that  their  interest  was  centred  outside  their  own 
country. 

However,  in  the  religious  field  likewise  strong  liberal 
currents  asserted  themselves,  and  meeting  with  the 
tendencies  of  Romanticism  towards  Christian  Unity,  a 
union  of  the  two  great  sects  of  the  Protestant  Church, 
the  Lutheran  and  Reformed,  was  accomplished  in 
Prussia  in  1817.  A  liberal  movement  in  the  Catholic 
Church,  under  the  leadership  of  Bishop  Wessenberg, 
came,  as  usual,  to  nothing. 

The  average  citizen  lost  all  desire  to  take  part  in 
public  life  at  all.  Any  open  word  was  persecuted; 
any  liberal  who  showed  the  ambition  or  the  ability  to 
be  a  leader  was  thrown  into  prison  and  treated 
in  such  a  way  that  he  forgot  to  raise  his  voice  again 
for  the  rights  of  the  people.  Once  more  the  common 
citizen  withdrew  within  his  four  walls,  and  the  greatest 
Philistinism  became'  prevalent.  In  dressing-gown 
(Schlafrock)  and  night-cap  the  German  citizen  of  the 
time  was  most  appropriately  represented  in  the  comic 
papers.  Of  course,  the  participation  in  serious  public 
business  being  denied,  sociability  gained  in  importance ; 
that  German  quality  of  easy  and  cheerful  intercourse 
without  too  much  restraint  by  etiquette,  the  untrans- 
latable Gemutlichkeit,  was  strongly  developed,  or,  ac- 
cording to  some,  even  had  its  origin  in  those  days. 

At  the  same  time  when  there  was  so  little  chance  to 


458          HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION    CHAP.  XLII 

display  any  heroism  a  strong  hero  cult  took  hold  of  this 
people.  Now  Goethe  and  Schiller  were  most  enthusias- 
tically admired ;  but  more  than  both  they  admired  the 
man  who  had  trodden  their  fatherland  under  his  feet, 
Napoleon  I,  who  showed  that  energy  which  they  them- 
selves were  so  sadly  lacking.  There  was  hardly  a 
house  in  some  parts  of  Germany  in  which  a  picture  of 
Napoleon  could  not  be  found.  The  principal  means 
of  entertainment  are,  as  before,  the  periodicals,  some 
of  which  were  of  great  literary  value.  In  the  litera- 
ture of  the  time  the  Tragedy  of  Fate  makes  its 
appearance  with  Z.  Werner's  drama,  "The  Twenty- 
fourth  of  February."  In  the  meantime  the  men  who 
were  destined  to  awaken  Germany  from  her  sleep  were 
growing  up.  Ludwig  Boerne  and  Heinrich  Heine  pub- 
lished their  first  writings.  Taken  all  together,  this  was 
a  time  of  transition. 

The  reasons  of  this  German  patience,  with  existing 
conditions  unbearable,  as  they  appear,  are  not  hard  to 
find.  In  the  first  place,  German  Philistinism,  of  which 
a  great  share  enters  into  the  national  character,  did  not 
like  to  be  disturbed  in  its  peaceful  daily  routine; 
and  in  the  second  place,  it  was  the  respect  for  every- 
thing that  has  historically  grown  which  did  not 
favor  any  violent,  sudden  changes,  but  expected  all 
progress  to  come  in  the  course  of  natural  development ; 
this,  of  course,  strengthened  the  position  of  estab- 
lished authority.  But  if  we  look  deeper,  we 
shall  see,  as  a  third  cause,  behind  all  this  a  firm  convic- 
tion peculiar  to  the  German  that  right,  truth, 
and  virtue  are  sure  to  be  victorious  in  the  end, 
and  combined  with  this  conviction  a  feeling  of  latent 
strength,  which  told  him  that  he  might  as  well  abide 
his  time. 


CHAPTER  XLIII 

THE    GROWTH    OF   LIBERALISM    AND    NATIONALISM    TILL 

1847 

DURING  the  time  of  apparent  political  stagnation  in 
Germany,  of  the  supremacy  of  the  reactionary  tendencies 
to  which  the  great  majority  of  the  citizens  bowed  their 
heads  without  open  resistance,  the  only  home  for  truly 
liberal  and  truly  national  ideas  was  to  be  found  in  the 
universities,  which,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  on  the  part 
of  the  government,  succeeded  on  the  whole  in  guarding 
that  liberty  of  teaching  that  made  them  great.     Here 
especially  the  idealistic  youth  could  not  forget  the  hopes 
with  which  they  had  left  their  studies  to  drive  the  for- 
eign tyrant  out  of  their  country  and  in  which  they  were 
so   cruelly  disappointed  on  their  return.     It  was  an 
organization  of  students,  Die  deutsche  Burschenschaft, 
founded  after  the  Wars  of  the  Liberation,  which  for 
many  years  was  to  form  the  centre  of  German  Ideal- 
ism, as  far  as  it  was  directed  towards  German  liberty 
and  unity.     The  founders  of  this  society,   young  as 
they  were,  had  matured  to  manhood,  and  won  on  the 
battlefield  their  right  to  have  a  voice  in  the  council  of 
their  nation.     With   a  solemn  seriousness   they   con- 
ceived their  patriotic  duties  and  imparted  their  idealis- 
tic spirit  to  their  younger  followers.     Throughout  the 
conflict  between   absolutism  and  liberalism  the  uni- 
versities were  the  stronghold  of  the  opposition  and 
furnished   the  leaders   of   the  people  in  the   combat 

459 


460  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

for  their  rights.     Against  the  members  of  this  student 
organization  the  persecutions  of  the  government  were 
principally  directed,  and  many  a  good  German  had  to 
spend  his  youth  and  best  manhood  behind  the  prison 
bars  of  a  German  fortress  or  in  exile  for  no  other  reason 
than  that  he  wore  the  colors  of  the  Burschenschaft, 
black,  red,  gold,  —  supposed  to  be  the  colors  of  the 
old  German  Empire.     In  the  eyes  of  the  rulers  the 
longing   for   national   unity,    spontaneous   patriotism, 
was    identical     with     democratic    convictions,  —  and 
in   fact   they   were  found   mostly   united,  —  so   that 
in    suppressing    all  national  feeling  they  thought  to 
protect  their  own  position.     They  wanted  their  sub- 
jects to  love  their  fatherland  according  to  their  former 
conception,  when  every  small  state  was  considered  to 
be  the  " fatherland"  of  its  inhabitants,  while  the  Napo- 
leonic Wars  and  German  Idealism  had  matured  the 
greater  conception  of  all  Germany  as  the  fatherland 
of  every  German,  no  matter  what  his  political  allegiance 
might  be;    in  short,  the  rulers  wished  their  subjects 
to  be  good  Prussians,  Hessians,  Austrian  s,  or  whatever 
they  were  in  the  narrower  sense,  but  they  did  not  want 
them  to  be  Germans.     We  have  seen  that  outside  of 
the  universities  this  policy  of  suppression  of  the  popu- 
lar will  had  been  facilitated  by  the  economic  weakness, 
the  actual  poverty  of  the  people.     Again  they  with- 
drew from  the  public  interests,   and  turned  towards 
the  ideal  life,  towards  their  own  self,  and  applied  the 
teachings  of  German  Idealism  to  their  own  personali- 
ties.    They  underwent  in  this  manner  a  sort  of  self- 
discipline,  which  gave  them  their  inner,  moral  liberty, 
before  they  acquired  the  external  liberties  which  a  free 
constitution  might  give  them.     Of  course,  this  quiet 
resignation  could  not  last  forever;    a  younger,  more 


XLIII    LIBERALISM  AND  NATIONALISM  TILL  1847      461 

energetic  generation  grew  up,  which  was  not  satisfied 
to  be  treated  as  politically  immature,  and  demanded 
the  rights  that  were  withheld  from  them. 

When  this  feeling  of  opposition  had  gained  sufficiently 
in  strength  to  become  an  important  factor,  about  1830, 
there  entered  a  new  current,  or  rather  a  new  force, 
into  the  number  of  elements  that  compose  the  life  of 
a  nation,  a  force  which,  with  the  more  advanced  na- 
tions, had  already  outgrown  its  first  stages  of  develop- 
ment, but  which  in  Germany  made  itself  felt  for  the 
first  time  at  this  period  when  the  first  signs  of  renewed 
vitality  of  the  people  were  forthcoming.  This  new 
force  was  labor,  —  labor  in  the  modern  sense  of  the 
word.  This  labor  is  very  different  from  the  work  per- 
formed by  man  in  former  periods.  Formerly  every 
man  was  working  for  himself;  he  controlled  his  own 
work  and  the  future  of  his  work.  The  completion  of 
the  piece  of  work  he  had  in  hand  was  the  aim  of  the 
worker.  But  about  1830  the  industrial  change,  which, 
as  has  been  said,  had  been  completed  in  England  long 
ago,  became  a  fact  in  Germany,  and  labor  began  to  be 
a  force  in  itself ;  it  grew  in  power  with  increasing  ve- 
locity ;  it  concentrated  its  power  more  and  more  until 
to-day  man  does  not  control  labor,  but  labor  controls 
man.  It  is  the  same  result  of  industrial  development 
everywhere.  Now  the  great  majority  of  the  people 
are  not  able  to  choose  their  own  work,  the  individual 
becomes  a  mere  instrument  of  the  general  progress  of 
industry ;  he  is  simply  one  particle  of  the  vast  machinery 
of  national  labor,  and,  if  appearances  do  not  deceive, 
will  in  time  be  a  particle,  not  of  national  labor,  but  of 
the  world's  labor. 

This  new  force  came  at  the  same  time  when  the  peo- 
ple seemed  to  be  exhausted  in  their  longing  for  an  ideal, 


462  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

and  their  investigations  seemed  to  have  reached  the 
boundaries  of  the  soul,  as  if  they  felt  they  could  not  go 
beyond  Kant  and  Schiller  and  Goethe.  The  pendulum 
swung  to  the  other  side,  and  once  more  interest  turned 
to  the  outside  world.  The  relation  of  man  to  his  sur- 
roundings became  the  centre  of  thought ;  the  increasing 
importance  of  industry  made  demands  upon  science, 
on  which  its  technical  progress  was  to  depend;  man 
demanded  greater  control  over  nature.  Thus  the 
rhythm  of  the  soul  and  the  throb  of  external  life  led  alike 
to  a  rise  of  the  natural  sciences ;  on  the  one  hand  they 
take  the  place  of  speculative  philosophy,  while  on  the 
other  that  wonderful  alliance  of  science  and  industry 
which  is  the  pride  of  modern  Germany  takes  its  start. 

And  just  at  this  moment  there  came  the  impulses 
set  to  work  by  the  July  Revolution  in  Paris  which  sent 
its  waves  of  excitement  all  over  Europe  and  found  also 
in  Germany  a  great  number  of  people  ready  to  welcome 
the  ideals  of  democracy.  But  it  was  too  short  a  time 
since  they  had  turned  from  excessive  introspection  to 
be  prepared  for  the  vigorous  tasks  of  practical  life, 
and  the  Germans  with  their  thirty-six  states  accustomed 
to  the  guardianship  of  their  rulers  and  officials,  dis- 
heartened and  weakened  by  national  misfortunes  as 
well  as  by  poverty,  were  not  yet  ripe  for  a  revolution. 

Since  political  institutions  gave  no  room  for  an  open 
exchange  of  ideas,  since  there  was  no  freedom  of  speech, 
and  every  journal  or  other  publication  was  subject  to 
a  strict  censorship,  the  spreading  of  the  liberal  ideas 
was  not  easy.  In  this  way  it  came  about  that  one  of 
the  most  important  means  of  expression  for  the  German 
political  aspirations  towards  liberty  and  unity  was 
developed  in  time  in  the  great  national  festivals;  in 
later  years  ostensibly  held  as  reunions  for  Singing, 


XLIII    LIBERALISM  AND  NATIONALISM  TILL  1847       463 

Turning  (Gymnastic),  or  Shooting  Associations.  Thus 
if  we  see  the  Germans  all  over  the  world  making  so 
much  of  their  Turnfest,  Sdngerfest,  or  Schiitzenfest, 
it  is  not  simply  a  matter  of  social  enjoyment;  these 
festivals  take  on  a  higher  significance  from  the  mem- 
ories of  the  times  when  they  were  one  of  the  means  of 
knitting  the  Germans  into  one  nation.  They  were  the 
only  occasion  when  they  were  united ;  when,  though 
coming  from  various  small  states,  they  felt  as  Germans, 
as  brethren  of  one  nationality.  And  this  significance 
has  not  entirely  disappeared  to-day,  as  is  seen  by  the 
enthusiasm  aroused  at  these  festivals  when  the  people 
greet  the  strong  delegations  of  Germans  not  belonging 
to  the  Empire,  especially  the  Austrians  and  the  German 
Americans. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  newly  awakened  political 
interests  an  important  festival  of  this  sort  was  held  at 
a  place  called  Hambach  in  1832  and  has  gone  down  in 
history  under  the  name  of  Hambacher  Volksfest. 
Here  the  friends  of  liberty  and  progress  came  together. 
There  were  processions  and  a  great  number  of  speeches, 
not  only  by  Germans  but  also  by  others,  especially  by 
Frenchmen  and  Poles.  The  Germans  showed  that 
they  well  deserved  their  name  of  unpractical  dreamers. 
In  spite  of  their  own  wretched  political  situation  they 
showed  more  interest  in  the  liberty  of  Poland  and  in 
the  progress  of  the  republican  cause  in  France  than  in 
their  own  country.  In  spite  of  the  experience  of  the 
Rhenish  enthusiasts  of  Revolution  times,  who  had  in- 
vited the  French  as  friends  of  liberty  and  were  treated 
by  them  as  conquered  enemies,  and  notwithstanding 
the  avowed  enmity,  the  insulting  contempt  even  of  the 
Poles  for  Germany,  they  welcomed  them  and  flattered 
their  vanity  by  treating  them  as  beings  of  a  superior 


464  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

order.  In  the  course  of  events  not  a  few  have  shed 
their  blood  for  them,  as  a  great  many  idealists  had 
gone  to  fight  for  the  better  causes  of  Greek  liberty  and 
the  emancipation  of  the  Spanish  republics  in  America. 

Only  one  orator  was  heard  at  this  German  national 
festival  protesting  against  the  arrogance  of  the  French, 
telling  them  that  the  German  people  were  very  much 
in  sympathy  with  a  French  republic  and  with  French 
liberal  ideas  in  general,  but  that  they  would  not  agree 
to  any  annexation  of  German  territory  by  their  French 
friends. 

The  consequence  of  this  festival  was  a  renewed  ef- 
fort on  the  part  of  the  reactionary  governments  to 
suppress  the  progressive  tendencies  which  suddenly 
had  given  such  signs  of  growing  strength.  New  perse- 
cutions began;  and  even  such  Princes  as  were  of  a 
more  liberal  mind  were  compelled  to  join  the  others. 
Once  more  some  of  the  greatest  and  best  names  of 
Germany  are  found  on  the  lists  of  the  inmates  of  prisons, 
of  whom  I  mention  only  Fritz  Reuter,  the  great  Low 
German  romancer,  and  some  of  the  best  left  their 
fatherland  forever. 

But  at  the  same  time  when  all  ideal  tendencies 
towards  German  unity  were  suppressed,  the  first  prac- 
tical steps  in  the  development  which  was  to  end  in  a 
united  Germany  were  taken.  They  were  united  with 
the  name  of  Friedrich  List,  who,  as  a  political  exile, 
had  lived  for  some  time  in  the  United  States.  Together 
with  others  he  succeeded  in  founding  the  German  Cus- 
toms Union  (Zollvereiri)  of  Prussia  with  several  of 
the  smaller  states,  accomplished  in  1834.  Here  the 
national  idea  enters  into  practical  union  with  the  rise 
of  industrialism.  While  it  was  the  foremost  purpose 
of  the  Customs  Union  to  serve  the  industrial  and  com- 


XLIII     LIBERALISM  AND  NATIONALISM  TILL  1847      465 

mercial  progress  of  its  members  by  abolishing  the  in- 
terstate duties  imposed  upon  commerce,  it  formed, 
secondarily,  the  nucleus  of  a  Germany  without  the 
dangerous  dualism  between  Prussia  and  Austria,  which, 
as  is  well  known,  has  been  one  of  the  principal  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  forming  a  united  German  nation.  List 
likewise  proposed  the  construction  of  a  net  of  railroads 
for  Germany,  recognizing  its  value  not  only  for  the 
economic  development  of  the  country,  but  also  as  a 
unifying  force,  bringing  the  different  parts  of  the  coun- 
try into  closer  contact.  For  such  far-sighted'  plans, 
however,  his  time  was  not  ripe.  The  first  railroad  in 
Germany  was  the  short  line  between  Niirnberg  and 
Fiirth,  opened  in  1835. 

The  new  interest  in  the  practical  problems  of  the 
time  extended  also  to  literature;  indeed,  Boerne  and 
Heine  had  been  at  work  for  some  time  to  arouse  by 
fearless  criticism  and  satire  the  German  Philistine  from 
his  inactivity.  They  were  followed  by  that  school  of 
writers,  called  Dasjunge  Deutschland  (Young  Germany), 
partly  under  Romantic  influence,  who  placed  themselves 
in  the  service  of  the  national  idea  and  spread  the  ideals 
of  unity  and  liberty  among  the  people.  This,  of  course, 
made  them  an  object  of  official  persecution,  the  best 
means  not  only  to  confirm  them  in  their  reformatory 
zeal,  but  also  to  increase  their  popularity. 

In  the  universities  the  liberal  spirit,  as  we  have  seen, 
kept  alive,  and  Germany  owes  to  her  university  men 
in  the  first  half  and  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury much  more  than  a  wonderful  advancement  of 
science.  The  greater  part  of  the  physicians,  the  jurists, 
the  teachers,  that  graduated  every  year  were  apostles 
of  nationalism,  of  liberty,  of  progress  ;  they  went  among 
the  people  and  spread  by  word  of  mouth  the  ideas  they 

2H 


466  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

were  not  allowed  to  print.  The  young  science  of  Ger- 
manic philology  became,  so  to  speak,  a  political  force 
pointing  to  the  old  Germanic  laws  as  witnesses  of  old 
liberties  and  political  rights.  Political  speeches  were 
heard  at  scientific  congresses,  where  they  were  least  to 
be  expected.  Similar  observations  might  be  made  at 
present  in  Russia  where  the  universities  have  likewise 
become  the  strongholds  of  progressive  ideas.  The  crit- 
ics of  German  political  life  of  our  days  will  frequently 
compare  the  sturdy  manliness  of  the  German  professor 
of  those  older  days  with  the  attitude  towards  the  gov- 
ernment held  by  some  of  their  modern  successors,  who, 
in  their  smooth  pliability,  seem  to  be  afraid  of  nothing 
more  than  to  displease  the  powers  that  have  the  pre- 
ponderance in  social  life.  And  of  the  older  generation 
none  have  shown  more  backbone  and  are  more  fre- 
quently referred  to  than  the  famous  "Seven  of  Got- 
tingen,"  who  in  1839  refused  to  swear  allegiance  to  the 
king  of  Hanover  under  a  new  constitution  which  he  had 
given,  abolishing  the  older  more  liberal  one,  without 
consulting  the  representatives  of  the  people.  Their 
consequent  dismissal  and  exile  caused  excitement  all 
over  Europe,  especially  since  their  names  had  a 
good  sound  in  the  world  of  science,  counting  among 
their  number  men  like  the  brothers  Grimm,  Dahlmann, 
and  Gervinus. 

A  short  time  after  this  event  a  new  king  ascended  the 
throne  of  Prussia  in  the  person  of  Frederick  William  IV. 
His  father,  whose  rule  fell  in  the  time  of  Napoleon  and 
of  the  Wars  of  Liberation,  had  been  unable  to  keep 
his  promises  because  of  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon 
him  by  Austria  and  Russia ;  on  the  whole  he  was  far 
from  brilliant,  though  endowed  with  some  common 
sense  which  prompted  him  to  be  fair.  The  new  king 


XLIII    LIBERALISM  AND  NATIONALISM  TILL  1847      467 

was  of  an  impulsive,  somewhat  erratic  character,  vacil- 
lating between  old  and  modern  ideals,  easily  losing 
contact  with  actual  life ;  in  short,  he  was  a  Romanticist. 
He  saw  in  mediaeval  conditions  the  salvation  of  human- 
ity; he  was  enthusiastic  over  Gothic  art  and  all  his- 
torical relics,  and  of  course  a  strong  adherent  of  the 
alliance  of  " Throne  and  Altar."  He  firmly  believed 
that  the  monarchy  and  the  Church  were  bound  to  sup- 
port each  other;  that  if  the  people  were  not  held  in 
submission  by  the  clergy,  his  reign  would  be  in  danger. 
He  opened  his  ears  willingly  to  the  influences  of  the 
most  backward  representatives  of  the  Church  party. 
He  gave  the  Catholic  Church  greater  recognition  and 
a  stronger  position  than  it  had  ever  held  before  in 
Protestant  Prussia,  and  conceded  to  it  many  points 
less  of  a  religious  than  political  character.  He  is  held 
largely  responsible  for  that  intermixture  of  religion  and 
politics  which  has  assumed  such  great  dimensions  and 
has  proved  one  of  the  worst  drawbacks  in  German 
development.  "What  we  are  suffering  in  the  German 
Empire  to-day,"  says  a  modern  German  publicist,  "the 
denominational  separation  of  our  people  and  the  Ultra- 
montane immersion  is,  all  things  considered,  principally 
the  fault  of  this  German  king;  because  he  proved  to 
be  weak,  the  Church  and  the  sense  of  power  of  the 
Church  have  become  so  strong,  and  thus  we  are  reaping 
to-day  what  he  has  sown." 

In  the  political  field  it  seemed  at  first  as  if  certain 
hopes  of  a  more  liberal  policy,  which  he  had  aroused  as 
crown  prince,  would  be  realized,  but  soon  all  friends  of 
progress  saw  their  mistake.  But  the  current  of  liberal 
ideas  had  become  too  strong  to  be  suppressed  any 
longer.  Certain  events  in  external  politics  helped  to 
give  a  new  stimulus  to  national  sentiment.  In  conse- 


468  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

quence  of  European  complications  there  arose  the 
danger  of  a  war  with  France  in  1840.  It  became 
rumored,  and  not  without  reason,  that  Thiers,  the  Prime 
Minister  of  Louis  Philippe,  was  planning  an  attack  on 
German,  especially  Prussian,  territory.  This  aroused 
all  patriotic  Germans,  North  and  South.  A  popular 
song,  Becker's  "Rheinlied,"  was  the  response  to  the 
threatening  rumor,  and  became  a  rallying  cry  of  such 
unmistakable  success  that  the  French  politicians,  who 
had  counted  on  the  antagonism  of  the  more  liberal 
southern  states  against  Prussia,  and  the  dissatisfaction 
of  the  Catholic  subject  of  Rhenish  Prussia,  —  an  error 
which  was  made  again  in  1870,  —  gave  up  their  plans  of 
conquest.  Another  incentive  to  a  renewed  outbreak 
of  national  feeling  was  given  a  few  years  later  when 
Denmark,  in  violation  of  treaties,  tried  to  make  the 
duchy  of  Schleswig  together  with  Holstein,  ruled  in 
personal  union  by  the  Danish  king,  a  part  of  its  polit- 
ical body,  an  annexation  to  which  the  inhabitants  of 
Schleswig-Holstein  offered  armed  resistance.  Once 
more  the  patriotic  protests  of  all  Germany  found  ex- 
pression in  a  song,  heard  from  the  Alps  to  the  North 
Sea,  the  "Schleswig-Holstein  Lied."  During  the  excite- 
ments of  this  movement  the  king  of  Prussia  again 
seemed  to  be  on  the  point  of  justifying  the  expectations 
of  liberalism  by  calling  together  in  Berlin  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  eight  provinces  (the  provincial  estates). 
But  although  this  assembly  for  the  first  time  united 
the  representatives  of  the  whole  state  in  one  body,  the 
king  was  not  willing  to  concede  to  them  such  rights  as 
to  make  them  a  truly  parliamentary  body.  Still  it 
was  not  without  effect ;  the  possibilities  of  popular 
representation  were  demonstrated,  the  necessity  of 
modern  reforms  was  made  more  evident  than  ever 


XLIII    LIBERALISM  AND  NATIONALISM  TILL  1847      469 

before,  political  parties  of  a  more  decided  character 
began  to  form,  and  their  leaders  showed,  qualities  which 
might  prove  of  the  greatest  advantage  to  the  state  and 
the  universal  welfare  of  the  people.  In  poetry  political 
lyrics  now  stood  in  the  foreground ;  Herwegh,  Prutz, 
Hoffmann  von  Fallersleben,  Freiligrath,  Meissner, 
Hartmann,  did  not  fear  the  reproach  of  desecrating 
their  Muse  by  placing  her  in  the  service  of  party  poli- 
tics, in  the  consciousness  that  they  were  striving  for 
the  highest  ideals. 

The  tune  since  1830  had  been  a  time  of  political  edu- 
cation, but,  in  spite  of  the  greater  influence  of  practical 
life,  one  of  greater  unity  between  thought  and  reality. 
Idealism  was  still  the  ruling  power ;  the  Germans  still 
deserved  the  name  of  a  nation  of  "thinkers  and  poets," 
certainly  a  title  of  honor,  but  not  a  testimonial  of 
ability  to  solve  the  problems  of  real  life. 


CHAPTER  XLIV 

1848   TO    1870 

IN  the  beginning  of  1848  the  spirit  of  liberalism,  which 
under  the  short  sighted  policy  of  the  reactionary  govern- 
ments had  also  become  the  spirit  of  patriotism,  had 
gained  considerable  strength  and  was  ready  to  press 
openly  its  just  demands  for  liberty  and  unity.  Thus, 
when  the  February  Revolution  broke  out  in  Paris,  it 
found  in  Germany,  not  only  inactive  sympathizers, 
but  very  active  imitators  who  thought  that  at  last  the 
time  had  come  for  popular  government  in  Germany. 
In  spite  of  liberal  concessions  numerous  revolutions 
broke  out,  which  were  successful  in  some  important 
cities.  But  the  German  Idealists  did  not  know  how  to 
follow  up  the  advantage  and  were  satisfied  when  they 
had  gained  the  election  of  a  constitutional  parliament, 
which  met  in  St.  Paul's  Church,  hi  Frankfort.  While 
the  movement  had  decidedly  a  democratic  character, 
it  was  not  a  revolution  to  destroy  the  monarchical  form 
of  government  and  replace  it  by  a  republic.  There  were 
a  great  many  republicans  among  the  leaders,  and  the 
revolutionists  in  Baden  under  Hecker  and  Struve  were 
for  the  establishment  of  a  republic,  but  it  was,  on  the 
whole,  more  a  violent  outburst  of  dissatisfaction  than 
a  movement  with  a  well-defined  end  in  view.  After 
all,  the  national  element  outweighed  the  political ; 
to  form  again  one  German  nation  was  the  aim  of 
almost  all,  but  how  to  accomplish  it  was  a  ground  of 

470 


CHAP.  XLIV  1848  TO  1870  471 

dissension.  The  question  had  to  be  settled  whether 
the  united  Germany  should  include  both  Austria  and 
Prussia,  or  Prussia  alone ;  it  was  clear  that  neither  of 
these  great  powers  would  submit  to  the  supremacy  of 
the  other.  A  great  many  of  the  Idealists  and  Roman- 
ticists wanted  the  new  Germany  to  be  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible the  same  as  the  old ;  the  Austrian  rulers  had  borne 
the  crown  of  the  Empire,  and  a  Germany  without 
Austria  seemed  only  a  mutilated  trunk.  But  others 
saw  the  impossibility  of  uniting  the  two  great  powers. 
And  if  there  was  a  question  of  one  or  the  other,  the  fact 
spoke  against  Austria  that  only  the  smaller  part  of 
her  interests  lay  in  Germany,  and  that  her  German 
policy  had  often  had  to  suffer  from  the  greater  weight 
of  the  non-German  majority  of  her  subjects.  Besides, 
Prussia  was  wholly  German ;  it  had  been  the  backbone 
of  German  life  since  Frederick  the  Great ;  it  had  taken 
the  lead  in  the  liberation  from  the  yoke  of  Napoleon, 
and  its  splendid  work  after  the  battle  of  Jena  had  led 
to  the  regeneration  of  all  Germany.  Already  in  1804 
one  German  author  at  least  had  advocated  that  Prussia 
should  break  up  the  Roman  Empire  of  the  German 
nation  and  take  the  leadership  of  the  German  states 
without  Austria.  Thus  there  was  the  greatest  dif- 
ference of  opinion  between  the  Lesser  and  the  Greater 
Germans  (Kleindeutsche  und  Grossdeutsche) ,  and  this 
formed  one  of  the  reasons  why  the  movement  so 
auspiciously  begun  was  to  fail. 

The  parliament  of  Frankfort  has  been  called  a  par- 
liament of  professors ;  they  passed  most  excellent  laws, 
but  had  no  power  to  execute  and  enforce  them.  They 
adopted  a  constitution  which  provided  for  general 
suffrage  and  embodied  most  liberal  and  democratic 
demands.  After  long  deliberation  the  Lesser  Germans 


472  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

carried  the  day,  and  it  was  decided  to  offer  the  crown  of 
the  German  Empire  to  Frederick  William  IV.  But 
this  Prince,  by  the  grace  of  God,  refused  to  accept  it ; 
he  did  not  want  the  Imperial  Crown  from  the  hands  of 
the  people,  he  did  not  want  it  as  the  result  of  a  revolu- 
tion. His  refusal  put  an  end  to  the  dream  of  German 
unity  for  the  time  being.  A  great  disappointment  took 
hold  of  all  friends  of  liberty  and  all  patriots.  But 
men  of  keen  political  insight,  of  indomitable  energy,  of 
broad  views,  did  not  come  forth  to  lead  the  popular 
forces  to  the  desired  goal.  In  despair  one  of  the  writers 
of  the  time  exclaims:  "If  we  had  only  one  man  in 
millions,  one  fist,  one  hard  fist  of  iron!"  He  was 
unaware  then  that  the  fist  of  iron  that  was  destined  to 
weld  Germany  together  was  already  feeling  for  its  tools. 
Nor  had  men  entirely  disappeared  from  German  life. 
Not  only  had  the  greatest  of  German  statesmen  entered 
upon  the  first  stage  of  his  career,  but  the  creators  of  the 
new  idealism,  also,  did  not  discontinue  their  work. 

We  can  imagine,  however,  that  after  the  failure  of  the 
revolutionary  forces  the  governments  tried  once  more  to 
return  to  the  old  regime.  The  courts  had  all  the  work 
they  could  do,  the  prisons  were  filled,  and  executions, 
only  too  often  in  defiance  even'  of  the  semblance  of 
law  and  justice  and  of  common  loyalty  to  given 
promises,  were  frequent.  A  great  many  escaped  and 
formed  part  of  that  great  current  of  German  intelli- 
gence and  idealism  which  turned  towards  America,  of 
which  the  most  brilliant  representative  was  Carl 
Schurz.  They  have  left  their  indelible  traces  on  Ameri- 
can civilization.  Almost  immediately,  for  example, 
their  broadening  influence  was  felt  on  the  development 
of  the  slave  question.  There  is  no  doubt  that  without 
the  strengthening  of  the  abolitionist  cause,  brought 


XLIV  1848  TO  1870  473 

about  by  these  German  Idealists,  the  problem  would  not 
have  found  its  solution  as  soon  as  it  did,  and  many  of  the 
old  revolutionists  made  use  of  their  experiences  in  1848 
in  the  defence  of  the  Union  during  the  Civil  War.  The 
hopelessness  left  in  the  hearts  of  a  great  many  progres- 
sive patriots  after  the  failure  of  the  revolutionary 
movement  was  made  plain  to  the  present  writer  by  the 
words  of  a  noble-minded  woman  who  had  herself  taken 
an  active  part  on  the  democratic  side  and  closed  a 
narrative  of  her  experiences  by  saying:  "In  1850,  I 
was  over  twenty  years  of  age  and  I  said  to  myself: 
Any  man  who  has  been  deserving  of  respect,  who  has 
been  worth  anything  in  Germany  is  either  in  prison, 
or  shot,  or  in  America,  so  if  I  ever  want  to  find  a  suit- 
able husband  I  must  go  to  America !"  She  had  acted 
on  this  conviction  and  really  married  a  "  Forty-Eighter  " 
who  had  fought  on  the  barricades  at  Dresden. 

The  quiet  time  that  followed  was  a  period  of  renewal 
rather  than  of  resignation.  It  had  become  clear  that 
the  ideal  must  depend  for  realization  not  merely  on 
logic,  but  on  a  strong  will  and  practical  means  to  con- 
quer the  realities  behind  it.  It  was  found  that  the 
German  character  was  wanting  principally  on  the  side 
of  will.  The  intellectual  classes  turned  to  the  phi- 
losopher of  will,  to  Arthur  Schopenhauer,  whose  books, 
published  a  generation  ago,  had  been  neglected.  Now 
they  suddenly  gained  an  extraordinary  popularity,  to 
the  great  satisfaction  of  their  aged  author.  Their 
pessimism  met  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  defeated 
Idealists ;  the  influence  of  his  philosophy  became  deep 
and  lasting  and  is  still  active.  But  it  did  not  take  long 
this  tune  before  the  national  spirit  had  sufficiently 
recovered  to  rise  to  new  aspirations,  to  new  and  repeated 
efforts  of  self-assertion,  which  at  last  were  destined  to 


474  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

end  in  victory.  In  spite  of  the  failure  of  the  '48  move- 
ment and  the  consequent  reaction,  enough  has  been 
wrought  to  make  it  possible  to  characterize  distinctly 
certain  views,  persons,  or  measures  as  "  vormdrzlich," 
i.e.,  of  the  time  before  March,  1848,  when  the  Revolution 
broke  out  in  Germany.  Even  the  king  of  Prussia  had 
condescended  to  give  to  his  people  a  constitution  with 
representative  government,  although  the  latter  was 
and  is  based  on  a  very  illiberal  suffrage.  In  1859  an 
immense  reawakening  of  German  Idealism  and  of 
national  spirit  took  place  on  the  occasion  of  the  Cen- 
tennial Celebration  of  the  birth  of  Friedrich  Schiller, 
which  was  observed  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm  wher- 
ever in  the  world  German  was  spoken.  It  was  far  more 
impressive  and  significant  than  the  similar  celebration 
held  in  1905,  and  forms  most  decidedly  one  of  the 
component  elements  of  the  new  spirit  which  led  to 
ultimate  success. 

Of  more  definite  character  and  immediate  practical 
importance  was  the  foundation  of  the  German  National 
Society  which  became  the  centre  of  liberal  and  national 
tendencies. 

At  the  same  time  the  Romanticist  king  of  Prussia 
had  been  compelled  by  a  disease  of  the  brain  to  hand 
over  the  reins  of  government  to  his  brother  William, 
who,  after  a  short  regency,  followed  him  as  king  and 
was  destined  to  become  the  first  German  emperor. 
He  introduced  liberal  measures,  appointed  a  liberal 
cabinet,  and  tried  to  conduct  his  administration  in 
agreement  with  popular  feeling.  The  general  rejoicing, 
however,  came  to  a  sudden  end  at  the  breaking  out  of 
the  important  conflict  which  was  to  decide  the  future 
of  Germany,  and  has  weakened  the  cause  of  democracy 
for  many  years  to  come.  Since  the  political  judgment 


XLIV  1848  TO   1870  475 

of  a  great  part  of  the  German  people  is  standing  to-day 
under  the  influence  of  this  incident,  it  has  lost  its  inci- 
dental character  as  an  episode  in  the  constitutional 
development,  but  has  become  of  psychological  moment. 
Having  witnessed  in  his  early  youth  the  disastrous 
period  of  Jena,  King  William  had  not  forgotten  its 
lessons,  and  recognizing  the  necessity  of  reform,  he 
proposed  a  reorganization  of  the  Prussian  army.  "  It 
would  be  a  punishable  offence  of  the  worst  order  if  we 
should  parade  with  a  cheap  military  establishment, 
which  would  not  meet  with  expectations  at  the  deci- 
sive moment,"  declared  the  governmental  program. 
"Prussia's  army  must  be  powerful  and  respected  in  order 
to  be  able,  when  the  time  comes,  to  put  a  heavy  political 
weight  in  the  scales." 

But  the  plan  met  with  the  most  violent  opposition  in 
the  Diet.  The  majority  not  only  objected  to  the  heavy 
expenses,  but  was  also  displeased  with  certain  features 
of  the  measure  itself,  and  furthermore  hesitated  to  tax 
the  people  in  order  to  place  at  the  disposal  of  the  govern- 
ment an  increased  military  power  without  any  guarantee 
against  its  abuse.  The  Diet  repeatedly  refused  to  pass 
the  bill.  Several  liberal  cabinets  resigned.  At  last 
the  king  himself,  who  felt  the  reorganization  of  the  army 
to  be  indispensable  to  the  interests  of  the  state,  thought 
of  resigning,  when  he  was  persuaded  to  call  Bismarck 
to  the  head  of  the  cabinet.  The  latter  was  Prussian 
Minister  in  Paris  when  the  call  reached  him.  The 
king  told  him  that  he  did  not  want  to  rule  if  he  could 
not  take  the  responsibility  for  his  acts  before  God,  be- 
fore his  conscience,  and  before  his  people,  but  that  this 
was  impossible  for  him  with  the  present  majority  of 
the  Diet,  and  he  could  not  find  any  ministers  willing 
to  take  hold  of  the  government  against  this  majority ; 


476  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

therefore  he  wanted  to  resign.  Bismarck  said  he  would 
undertake  the  risk  of  conducting  the  affairs  of  state 
without  the  consent  of  the  majority  of  the  Diet,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  persuading  the  king  to  remain.  Not  with- 
out thinking  of  the  fate  of  Charles  I  and  Stafford,  the 
two  persisted  in  doing  what  in  their  judgment  was  best 
for  their  people  against  the  will  of  the  representatives 
of  this  people  and  in  defiance  of  the  Constitution.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  if  Bismarck  had  not  undertaken  this 
risk,  King  William  would  have  resigned,  and  the  reor- 
ganization of  the  army  would  not  have  been  effected. 
Without  this  reorganization  the  successes  of  1864, 
1866,  and  1870  would  not  have  been  possible,  and  the 
new  Empire,  the  German  nation,  would  not  have  come 
to  life.  These  are  the  facts  of  history.  No  German 
will  say  to-day  that  it  had  been  better  if  the  king  and 
his  minister  had  respected  the  Constitution  and  let 
their  country  continue  in  its  miserable  and  wretched 
condition.  The  comparatively  little  confidence  which 
a  great  many  Germans,  especially  of  the  ruling  class, 
have  in  parliamentary  rule  is  readily  understood, 
when  we  remember  that  the  German  nation  would  not 
be  in  existence  to-day  if  the  Constitution  had  been 
adhered  to.  Few  people  will  think  further  and  recog- 
nize that  this  inadequacy  of  representative  government 
in  the  face  of  a  great  national  problem  was  due,  and  is 
due  where  it  occurs  to-day,  to  the  fact  that  it  is  not 
really  what  it  is  pretended  to  be ;  that  the  executive 
department  of  the  government  does  not  think  it  neces- 
sary to  furnish  the  popular  branch  with  the  informa- 
tion indispensable  to  form  a  correct  judgment  of  the 
needs  of  the  state ;  that  from  the  facts  in  their  pos- 
session the  administrative  officers  can  easily  foresee 
events  of  which  the  representatives  of  the  people  can 


XLIV  1848  TO  1870  477 

have  no  possible  prescience  and  which,  therefore,  they 
cannot  take  into  account  in  forming  their  decisions. 
For  the  mass  of  the  people  it  was  sufficient  that  events 
placed  the  king  and  Bismarck  in  the  right,  and  the 
liberal  Diet,  who,  through  no  fault  of  their  own,  could 
not  judge  the  political  situation,  in  the  wrong.  The 
Schleswig-Holstein  question  was  decided  by  force  of 
arms  in  favor  of  Germany  in  1864.  Two  years  later 
the  reorganized  Prussian  army,  in  a  short  and  decisive 
war,  defeated  Austria.  The  problem  of  the  Greater  or 
Lesser  Germany  was  solved  thereby,  and  it  is  hardly  to 
be  believed  that  this  could  have  been  accomplished 
without  a  war,  since  Austria  never  would  have  con- 
sented to  German  unity  without  herself  being  one  of 
its  most  important  factors.  Thus  German  fought 
against  German  in  this  war,  which  apparently  was 
unavoidable,  but  which  was  fought  with  more  gallantry 
and  strategic  skill  than  enthusiasm. 

After  the  war  was  successfully  ended,  Bismarck  and 
the  king  surprised  the  Liberals  by  a  failure  to  reenforce 
absolutist  tendencies,  as  had  been  feared,  with  some 
justification  after  the  experiences  since  1813.  But 
triumphant  victor  as  he  was,  Bismarck  did  not  think  it 
humiliating  to  admit  before  the  Diet  that  he  had  been 
in  the  wrong  and  to  ask  for  legal  indemnification  for  his 
steps.  He  was  indemnified  by  a  large  majority,  but 
there  was  a  small  number  of  Liberals  who  still  stuck  to 
their  principles  and  refused  to  pardon  the  violation  of 
the  Constitution.  It  was  then  that  the  fraction  which 
took  the  part  of  the  government  adopted  the  name 
"National  Liberal  Party,"  which  was  to  be  of  great 
importance  in  the  constructive  work  of  the  new  German 
Empire. 

But,  as  we  now  know,  another  enemy  was  to  be 


478  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

guarded  against,  besides  Austria,  if  Prussia  was  to  fulfil 
its  mission  of  unifying  Germany.  Already  after  the 
successful  ending  of  the  Austrian  War,  the  French 
Emperor,  Napoleon  III,  had  the  impudence  to  ask  the 
victor  to  agree  to  what  he  pleased  to  call  an  arrange- 
ment of  boundaries ;  in  other  words,  he  requested  that 
Prussia  should  cede  to  him,  on  the  old  theory  of  Euro- 
pean equipoise,  parts  of  the  German  territory  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Rhine.  This  demand  was  ignored. 
Napoleon  felt  unsafe  on  his  throne;  he  thought  to 
strengthen  his  position  by  a  brilliant  foreign  policy, 
even  by  a  successful  war ;  he  was  supported,  or  rather 
instigated,  in  his  plans  by  the  Empress  Eugenie.  In  vain 
he  tried  to  pick  a  quarrel  over  the  disposal  of  the  Duchy 
of  Luxemburg.  Bismarck,  who  saw  that  war  was 
unavoidable,  had  not  been  satisfied  with  founding  the 
North  German  Federation  in  1867,  but  had  concluded 
secret  alliances  with  the  Southern  German  States,  so 
that  when  at  last  the  war  broke  out,  Napoleon  saw 
arrayed  against  him,  under  the  leadership  of  Prussia, 
not  only  the  smaller  North  German  States,  but  a 
united  Germany.  The  differences  of  1866  were  for- 
gotten; North  and  South  arose  with  the  same  enthu- 
siasm against  the  common  enemy.  The  day  of  national 
unity  had  come ;  the  people  knew  that  this  time  their 
longing  would  at  last  be  set  at  rest.  Like  their  ancestors 
they  offered  themselves  in  this  war  as  a  sacrifice ;  the 
old  poetic  treasures  of  the  German  soul  were  stirred  up  ; 
in  the  old  Prussian  king,  once  the  most  hated  prince  in 
Germany,  they  saw  Barbarossa,  who  had  been  aroused 
from  his  deep  slumber  in  the  Kyffhauser ;  the  inflam- 
ing verses  from  Schiller's  "Tell"  and  from  his  "Jung- 
frau  von  Orleans"  were  heard  everywhere  and  were 
echoed  in  every  heart.  There  was  no  boastful  certainty 


XLIV  1848  TO  1870  479 

of  victory,  but  a  serious  purpose  to  do  one's  duty  and 
not  to  shrink  from  any  sacrifice  in  defending  the  father- 
land, and  to  bring,  through  victory,  unity  and  integrity ; 
to  satisfy  the  long  and  bitter  craving  to  become  a 
nation  that  might  take  its  proper  place  amongst  the 
peoples  of  the  world  and  hold  the  position  due  to  it  by 
its  untiring  work  in  the  service  of  the  highest  human 
ideals.  We  know  that  this  time  their  expectations  were 
not  deceived ;  that  the  alliance  of  the  successful  war 
became  the  permanent  confederation  known  as  the 
German  Empire  and  that  in  the  palace  of  Louis  XIV, 
Germany's  greatest  and  most  cruel  enemy,  the  king  of 
Prussia  was  proclaimed  German  Emperor.  With  hesi- 
tancy he  had  accepted  the  crown  which  seemed  to 
overshadow  the  glory  of  his  Prussian  traditions;  but 
he  accepted  it  not  in  the  spirit  of  the  conqueror  who 
might  consider  himself  at  that  time  the  most  powerful 
monarch  of  the  Continent.  He  showed  the  young 
nation  her  line  of  development  and  gave  expression  to 
the  conception  of  the  Germans  of  this  successful  war 
and  of  their  new  Empire  in  his  Proclamation  of  Accep- 
tance, January  18,  1871 : 

"We  accept  the  Imperial  dignity,  hoping  that  the 
German  people  will  be  allowed  the  reward  of  its  enthu- 
siastic and  unselfish  fight  in  a  lasting  peace  and  within 
the  boundaries  annihilated  for  centuries,  against  re- 
newed attacks  of  France.  But  God  may  grant  to  us 
and  our  successors  to  be  always  the  increasers  of  the 
German  Empire,  not  by  conquest  of  war,  but  by  the 
blessings  and  gifts  of  peace,  in  the  field  of  national 
welfare,  peace  and  morality." 

This  is  the  policy  set  before  and  adhered  to  by  the 
new  German  Empire  in  defiance  of  those  who  from 
ignorance  or  malicious  purpose  try  to  represent  it  as  a 


480  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

source  of  continuous  danger  for  its  neighbors  and  all 
the  world,  only  waiting  for  an  opportune  moment  to 
begin  the  most  cruel  war  history  has  known. 

Already  the  North  German  Federation,  founded  by 
Bismarck  immediately  after  the  war  of  1866,  began  the 
work  of  political  construction  which  was  to  be  con- 
tinued with  the  new  Empire. 

By  a  constitutional  convention  a  constitution  was 
adopted  which  was,  in  its  principal  traits,  based  on  that 
prepared  by  the  Frankfort  parliament  in  1848.  The 
Reichstag,  the  parliament,  is  composed  of  representa- 
tives of  the  people  elected  by  universal  suffrage;  any 
German  over  twenty-five  years  of  age,  without  distinc- 
tion of  birth  or  property,  has  the  right  to  vote.  The 
reason  Bismarck  introduced  this  radical  suffrage,  al- 
though he  was  by  no  means  a  democrat  himself,  may 
be  found  in  his  conviction  that  the  safety  of  German 
unity  was  with  the  people  at  large,  with  the  masses ; 
they  formed  a  reliable  counterweight  against  the  private 
ambitions  and  interests  of  the  princes.  He  has  ex- 
pressed great  confidence  in  the  sound  sense  of  the  Ger- 
man people :  "Only  let  them  sit  in  the  saddle,"  he  said, 
"they  will  be  able  to  ride."  The  Germans  have 
thanked  him  for  his  confidence  by  forgetting  many 
phases  of  his  internal  policy,  which  seem  to  contradict 
that  statement  and  were  decidedly  unpopular  and 
undemocratic.  He  stands  forth  as  the  great  man  who 
unified  Germany,  and  we  may  say  that  he  has  passed 
already  to  a  state  of  legendary,  mythical  heroism.  He 
appears  to  the  Germans  as  the  greatest  type  of  their 
nationality  since  Luther,  who  represents  the  best  and 
strongest  features  of  German  character.  It  will  be 
hard  to  find  in  history  a  man  whose  memory  has  been 
honored  as  Bismarck's  is  honored  by  his  nation  to-day, 


XLIV  1848  TO   1870  481 

out  of  a  truly  popular  sentiment,  in  spite  of  disapproval 
in  the  highest  places  and  an  explainable  hatred  of  old 
opponents.  And  here  is  a  remarkable  feature  about 
the  manner  in  which  they  do  homage  to  him.  There 
is  a  peculiar  style  of  monument  devoted  to  his  memory, 
unlike  the  majority  of  modern  monuments;  it  makes 
one  think  of  the  ways  our  Germanic  ancestors  might 
have  chosen  to  honor  their  heroes.  Those  Bismarck 
towers,  of  which  over  three  hundred  are  finished  or 
in  process  of  erection,  seem  to  be  hewn  out  of  the  live 
rock  by  Norsemen.  At  the  time  of  the  summer  solstice, 
more  than  at  the  eve  of  his  birthday,  huge  fires  are  lit 
on  the  top  of  the  towers,  while  the  Germans  assemble 
by  torchlight  in  a  memorial  service  to  their  dead  hero. 
Like  the  Germanic  character,  as  the  moderns  like  to 
depict  it,  the  rock  reflects  the  flickering  flames,  unmoved, 
defying  any  storm,  despising  external  finery,  represent- 
ing only  what  is  really  his  —  strength,  solidity,  relia- 
bility. Thus  the  latest  artistic  statue  of  the  "Iron 
Chancellor,"  the  Bismarck  monument  in  Hamburg,  is 
not  only  a  wonderful  expression  of  this  particular  idea, 
as  it  had  come  to  life  in  the  great  personality  of  the  man, 
but  may  be  taken  as  a  typical  representative  of  German 
national  art,  the  embodiment  of  a  powerful  spirit,  a 
revival  of  deepest  racial  instincts. 

The  German  Constitution  was  taken  over  by  the  new 
Empire  with  only  slight  changes,  required  by  the  cir- 
cumstances, from  the  North  German  Federation.  The 
position  of  the  Emperor  is  not  that  of  sovereign.  He 
is  simply  the  president  of  the  Confederated  Govern- 
ments; the  very  title  "German  Emperor"  has  been 
chosen  instead  of  Emperor  of  Germany,  to  avoid  any 
suspicion  of  unfounded  claims.  He  is  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  the  army  and  navy,  but  cannot  declare  war 
2i 


482  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

without  the  consent  of  the  Confederated  Governments, 
which  are  represented  in  the  Bundesrat,  "  Federation 
Council."  Here  the  states  have  a  different  number 
of  votes  according  to  their  size;  Prussia,  by  far  the 
largest  state,  has  seventeen  votes  out  of  a  total  of 
fifty-four;  since  the  admission  of  Alsace-Lorraine  in 
1911,  of  fifty-seven.  In  exact  proportion  to  its  inhabit- 
ants it  should  have  more  votes,  but  as  it  is,  it  has  a 
great  preponderance  and  is  almost  always  sure  of  suffi- 
cient support  to  get  a  majority  for  its  purposes.  The 
Supreme  Court  of  the  Empire  has  its  seat  in  Leipzig. 

Criminal  and  Civil  Lawrs,  Commercial  and  Industrial 
Laws,  are  uniform  for  the  whole  Empire,  as  well  as  the 
legal  procedure,  but  the  administration  of  justice,  the 
judiciary,  with  the  exception  of  the  Supreme  Court,  is 
reserved  to  the  single  states.  Uniform  weights  and 
measures,  —  the  metric  system,  —  as  well  as  a  uniform 
monetary  system  based  on  the  gold  standard,  were 
introduced  at  an  early  date.  The  postal  and  telegraph 
as  well  as  telephone  systems  are  under  the  control  of 
the  Empire,  with  certain  reservations  for  Bavaria  and 
Wiirtemberg.  The  same  states  have  reserved  for 
themselves  a  certain  independence  in  military  matters 
in  times  of  peace,  though  they  are  subject  to  the  control 
of  the  Emperor  as  Commander-in-Chief. 

The  financial  system  of  the  Empire  has  so  far  proven 
to  be  a  failure  and  has  been  unable  to  balance  revenues 
and  expenditures. 

The  Empire  has  no  cabinet,  but"  the  whole  respon- 
sibility of  the  government  rests  on  the  shoulders  of  the 
Chancellor;  gradually,  however,  certain  departments 
have  been  intrusted  to  secretaries  of  state,  such  as  the 
Postal  Service  and  Foreign  Affairs,  although  the  latter 
remains  perhaps  the  most  important  sphere  of  the 


XLIV  1848  TO  1870  483 

Chancellor's  competency ;  for  in  its  foreign  policy,  if 
anywhere,  the  German  Empire  forms  one  unit. 

While  Germany  has  a  constitutional,  representative 
government,  it  has  not  a  parliamentary  government. 
The  English  constitution  has  not  to  any  extent  been 
the  model  for  Germany. 


CHAPTER  XLV 

THE  KEIGN   OF  THE   FIRST  EMPEROR 

THE  first  decade  of  the  new  Empire  was  given  to  the 
work  of  construction,  in  which  the  National  Liberal 
party  played  a  most  important  part.  But  new  party 
influences  made  themselves  felt  before  long  and  proved 
more  dangerous  to  the  National  Liberals  than  their 
old  Conservative  antagonists  or  the  radical  elements 
which  had  separated  themselves  from  their  own  party. 
The  latter  formed  for  a  time,  under  the  name  of  Pro- 
gressive party,  an  influential  part  of  the  opposition,  due 
perhaps  more  to  the  intellectual  capacity  of  its  members, 
men  like  Eugen  Richter,  Virchow,  and  Hanel,  and  others 
of  hardly  less  importance,  than  to  their  number.  Later 
they  were  divided  again  into  separate  groups  and  lost 
their  significance  to  a  great  extent.  In  1910  all  radical 
liberals  united  to  form  one  party. 

The  industrial  development  of  Germany,  which  had 
taken  its  start  in  the  first  third  of  the  century,  had  ad- 
vanced so  far  that  into  the  constitutional  Reichstag  of 
1867  Labor  was  able  to  send  at  least  one  representative, 
—  August  Bebel,  who  is  the  recognized  leader  of  the 
Socialist  Labor  party  in  Germany  to-day.  In  the 
first  Reichstag  elected  under  the  new  Constitution  of 
the  North  German  Federation,  seven  socialist  deputies 
took  their  seats.  Thus  the  social  question  came  to 
the  surface  in  Germany,  and  soon  gained  place  in  the 
foreground  of  interest  when  the  Liberals,  after  a  long 

484 


CHAP.  XLV     THE  REIGN  OF  THE  FIRST  EMPEROR       485 

and  bitter  fight,  had  reached  their  goal  of  German 
unity,  under  a  constitutional  government  with  uni- 
versal suffrage.  The  new  problems  sadly  interfered 
with  the  execution  of  their  program,  which  had  be- 
come unsuited  to  the  new  conditions  at  an  earlier  time 
than  it  could  be  realized,  and  thus  they  never  really  had 
time  to  enjoy  the  fruit  of  their  victory  or  to  put  their 
theories  to  an  unhampered  practical  test.  However, 
during  the  first  years  the  danger  which  threatened  to 
arise  from  this  new  party  to  the  present  state  of  society 
was  overlooked,  and  Bismarck  tried  to  finish  his  work 
of  national  unification  in  another  direction. 

The  Socialists  were  not  the  only  new  party  that  made 
its  appearance  at  the  time  the  German  Empire  was 
founded,  and  the  representatives  of  the  people  set 
about  to  work  out  the  details  of  the  national  organiza- 
tion. Of  equal  importance  is  the  Ultramontane  party, 
which  has  tried  to  unite  the  German  Catholics  for  po- 
litical purposes.  One  must  be  careful  not  to  identify 
the  Ultramontane  party,  or,  as  it  is  shortly  called  from 
the  seats  its  deputies  hold  in  the  Chamber,  the  Centre, 
with  the  Catholic  Church.  Theoretically  one  may  be 
a  very  good  Catholic  without  being  a  Centrist,  and 
on  the  other  hand  the  Centrists  have  more  than  once 
denied  the  Pope  or  the  Higher  Clergy  the  right  to  in- 
terfere with  their  affairs.  But  practically  it  is  very 
difficult  to  say  where  the  political  influence  ends  and  the 
religious  influence  begins.  There  is  a  strong  inter- 
national Ultramontane  current  within  the  Catholic 
Church,  which  popular  opinion  identifies  with  the 
Jesuits  and  their  followers.  It  is  furthermore  an  un- 
deniable fact  that  the  disciplinary  means  of  the  Church 
and  the  authoritative  position  of  the  clergy  are  frequently 
used  to  strengthen  the  influence  of  the  political  party. 


486  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

We  know  that  since  the  days  of  Luther  the  denomi- 
national line  between  Catholics  and  Protestants  sepa- 
rates German  from  German  much  more  than  the  bound- 
aries between  the  Empire  and  Austria  or  Switzerland. 
At  times  the  antagonism  is  less  apparent,  and  in  times  of 
greatest  national  vitality,  like  1813  or  1870,  it  is  for- 
gotten, but  Ultramontanism  has  greatly  emphasized 
the  gap.  How  much  this  religious  disparity  enters  into 
secular  questions,  into  politics,  can  hardly  be  imagined 
by  Americans,  who  owe  an  undying  gratitude  to  the 
founders  of  the  Republic  for  having  kept  religious  and 
state  affairs  completely  separate.  The  experiences  of 
European  nations  should  teach  them  that  he  is  one  of  the 
worst  enemies  of  this  country  who,  no  matter  under 
what  high  pretext  of  justice  or  morals,  will  allow  the 
smallest  breach  of  this  principle.  Both  the  Common- 
wealth and  religion  suffer  from  this  intermixture. 
Historical  tradition  and  the  intimate  connection  of 
the  Protestant  Church  constitution  with  the  political 
organization  of  the  state  make  a  separation  of  Church 
and  state,  the  only  possible  solution  of  the  problem, 
extremely  difficult  in  Germany,  and  this  can  only  be 
hoped  for  under  democratic  rule. 

In  1870  the  Ecumenical  Council  at  the  Vatican  pro- 
mulgated the  infallibility  of  the  Pope  as  an  article  of 
faith  of  the  Catholic  Church.  In  the  same  year  Italy 
took  advantage  of  the  German  victories  over  France 
and  by  occupying  the  City  of  Rome,  heretofore  held 
for  the  Pope  by  a  French  garrison,  accomplished  the 
unity  of  the  nation,  as  already  in  1866  the  Prussian 
victories  had  carried  the  day  for  the  Italians  who  had 
been  defeated  in  the  field  and  at  sea  by  Austria.  The 
acceptance  of  the  dogma  of  infallibility  more  than 
balanced  the  loss  of  prestige  suffered  by  the  Pope 


XLV  THE  REIGN  OF  THE  FIRST  EMPEROR  487 

through  the  loss  of  his  secular  possessions.  Now  in 
Germany  the  Catholic  party  rallied  on  two  demands : 
first,  that  the  state  should  recognize  certain  important 
claims  of  a  political  nature  of  the  Catholic  Church ;  and 
second,  that  the  young  Empire  should  use  its  newly 
acquired  power  to  demand  that  Italy  should  relinquish 
Rome  and  restore  to  the  Pope  his  secular  dominions, 
and  should  eventually  press  this  demand  by  force 
of  arms.  Let  alone  the  peaceful  policy  laid  out  for 
Germany  in  the  Emperor's  Proclamation  of  Acceptance, 
neither  the  Protestant  governments  nor  the  Liberal 
party  could  be  won  for  the  support  of  such  program. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  a  serious  conflict,  which  by 
Rudolf  Virchow,  the  great  medical  scholar  and  liberal 
politician,  was  given  the  name  of  Kulturkampf,  "strife 
for  Culture,"  i.e.,  the  contest  between  the  medi- 
aeval Roman  and  the  modern  German  culture.  The 
battle  was  fought  both  in  the  Reichstag,  where  a  law 
exiling  the  Jesuits  and  other  religious  orders  from  Ger- 
many was  passed,  and  in  the  several  Diets.  Prussia 
especially  adopted  certain  laws,  known  as  the  Maige- 
setze,  —  the  Laws  of  May,  —  intended  to  bring  the 
Church  into  the  organism  of  the  modern  state.  The 
Catholic  priests  who  would  not  submit  to  the  new  laws 
were  persecuted,  as  formerly  Democrats  and  Liberals 
were.  Bishops  and  priests  were  imprisoned  or  exiled ; 
they  were  not  allowed  to  hold  services,  and  their  salaries 
were  withheld.  This  illiberal  policy  could  only  have 
the  effect  of  strengthening  the  Catholic  party,  the  more 
so  since,  though  aiming  at  the  interest  of  the  state,  of  the 
whole  people,  Protestants  of  a  certain  type  could  not 
refrain  from  displaying  their  religious  party  spirit,  and 
hereby  made  the  new  legislation  appear  more  like  petty 
party  tyranny  than  a  broad  measure  for  public  wel- 


488  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

fare.  Only  a  small  part  of  the  liberals  withstood  the 
temptation  to  neglect  their  fundamental  principles  in 
order  to  take  advantage  of  their  opponents.  The  con- 
flict lasted  for  several  years. 

In  the  meantime  industrialism,  and  with  it  socialism, 
had  become  stronger.  It  became  evident  that  the  new 
movement  could  not  be  neglected  any  longer.  Though 
Bismarck  had  made  use  of  the  constructive  forces  of 
Liberalism  in  organizing  the  Empire,  he  was  still  a 
politician  of  the  old  school,  who  in  internal  politics 
knew  only  of  one  way,  to  which,  in  the  face  of  serious 
opposition,  he  was  rather  quick  to  resort,  namely,  force. 
The  Liberals  had  not  awakened  to  the  fact  that  there 
was  a  social  question.  As  in  the  conflict  with  the 
Church  they  showed  that  their  Liberalism  had  value 
only  so  far  as  their  own  rights  were  concerned,  but  that 
they  were  not  willing  to  apply  their  liberal  principles 
to  the  treatment  of  dangerous  opponents.  Bismarck 
and  the  ruling  powers  saw  that  it  was  necessary  to 
concentrate  all  available  forces  in  order  to  protect  the 
old  historical  institutions  of  society,  embodied  in  the 
modern  state,  and  to  unite  the  liberalizing  middle 
class  with  the  conservative  aristocracy  and  land- 
holders, against  the  rising  power  of  Socialism.  The 
result  was  a  compromise  between  the  Catholic  party 
and  the  government;  Bismarck,  who  at  the  height 
of  the  conflict  had  proudly  declared,  "We  shall  never 
go  to  Canossa!"  yielded  to  Rome.  Since  then  the 
victorious  Ultramontane  party  became  an  important 
factor  in  German  politics.  The  government  had  its 
hands  free  to  begin  its  fight  against  Socialism.  The 
plans  of  Bismarck  were  matured  when,  in  1878,  old 
Emperor  William  was  twice  shot  at  by  fanatic  socialists, 
the  second  time  not  without  receiving  injuries.  A 


XLV  THE   REIGN   OF  THE   FIRST  EMPEROR  489 

special  law  was  passed  for  the  suppression  of  Socialism, 
and  later  renewed,  which  had  the  usual  effect  of  such 
legislation,  viz.,  to  foster  the  very  movement  it  aims 
to  suppress.  Still,  the  government  did  not  confine 
itself  to  persecuting  the  representatives  of  labor. 
Recognizing  the  necessity  of  improvement  for  the 
laboring  classes,  to  which  the  Socialist's  movement, 
though  it  refused  its  aid  in  positive  legislation, 
had  called  attention,  Emperor  William,  on  No- 
vember 17,  1880,  sent  forth  his  famous  proclamation 
recommending  the  passing  of  laws  for  the  protection  of 
labor.  It  was  the  beginning  of  that  social  legislation 
which,  as  far  as  the  provision  for  the  material  welfare 
of  the  laboring  classes  is  concerned,  has  placed  Germany 
at  the  head  of  the  civilized  world ;  an  important  step 
forward,  which  already  means  the  payment  of  about 
two  million  marks  day  for  day  to  the  families  of  work- 
ing men  who  otherwise  would  be  completely  destitute. 
Certainly  more  could  be  done,  and  ought  to  be  done ; 
but  still  the  critics  of  the  laws,  none  of  whom  would 
do  without  them  any  more,  should  remember  that  they 
mean  the  recognition,  for  the  first  time,  of  a  great 
principle  by  making  a  right  what  used  to  be  considered 
"  charity,"  thereby  raising  the  dignity  of  manhood. 
The  labor  legislation  that  followed  the  proclamation  of 
Emperor  William  under  Bismarck's  administration 
comprises  an  insurance  law,  a  law  for  the  protection 
of  labor  in  case  of  accident,  and  a  sick  benefit  law; 
the  state,  the  employer,  and  the  employee  share  in  the 
expense.  A  revision  of  the  laws  in  1911  has  extended 
their  benefits  to  rural  laborers  and  to  clerical  and  tech- 
nical assistants  and  added  provisions  for  widows  and 
orphans,  and  a  motherhood  insurance.  Unfortunately 
it  has  curtailed  the  working-men's  part  in  administration. 


490  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

By  these  measures  William  I  and  Bismarck,  the 
makers  of  the  German  nation,  have  increased  their 
claims  to  gratitude ;  they  have  become  benefactors  of 
humanity.  Already  other  nations  have  imitated  their 
work,  or  are  trying  to  improve  upon  it,  but  they  will 
always  remain  the  pioneers,  the  pathfinders,  and  guides 
in  this  glorious  work  of  peace. 

To  give  an  idea  of  the  development  of  these  insti- 
tutions, I  quote  from  a  United  States  Consular  Report 
(for  1910)  as  follows  : 

"Of  a  population  of  63,879,000,  about  13,385,000  per- 
sons, 9,928,000  men  and  3,457,000  women,  were  insured, 
in  1909,  against  sickness  under  the  disability  insur- 
ance acts,  in  23,449  sick  funds.  The  total  number  of 
people  insured  against  accident,  after  subtracting  about 
3,500,000  persons  who  were  doubly  insured,  was  about 
23,767,000  —  14,854,000  men  and  8,913,000  women. 
This  form  of  insurance  was  administered  by  66  trade 
corporations,  48  agricultural  societies,  and  545  state, 
provincial,  and  municipal  boards.  Disability  insur- 
ance embraced  about  15,444,000  persons,  10,707,000 
men  and  4,737,000  women,  and  was  administered  by  31 
insurance  organizations  and  10  disability  funds.  The 
income  for  all  these  forms  of  insurance  amounted  to 
$212,200,000 ;  employers'  premiums  totaling  $98,3 12,000 
and  employees'  $81,414,000.  The  state's  contribution 
was  $12,257,000.  The  regular  disbursements  amounted 
to  $142,544,000,  exclusive  of  reimbursements.  Com- 
pensation paid  from  the  sick  funds,  including  miners' 
funds,  amounted  to  $80,675,000,  from  accident  insur- 
ance $38,619,000,  and  from  the  disability  funds 
$44,989,000.  The  figures  for  1910  had  risen  so  much 
that  the  sum  devoted  to  these  objects  may  be  said  to 
have  reached  $250,000,000.  To  this  must  also  be  added 


XLV  THE  REIGN  OF  THE  FIRST  EMPEROR  491 

$50,000,000  for  the  insurance  of  public  servants  and 
£50,000,000  for  that  of  private  servants." 

But  the  beneficent  results  of  these  institutions  are  not 
confined  to  direct  financial  assistance  in  times  of  need. 
The  accumulation  of  capital  in  the  different  insurance 
funds,  to  a  great  extent  under  the  administration  of 
the  contributing  working-men,  has  proved  a  wonderful 
educational  agent  in  hygiene  and  economics.  Con- 
valescent homes,  open-air  hospitals  and  schools,  the 
construction  of  hygienic  working-men's  homes  by  the 
help  of  loans  at  low  interest  and  cheap  ground  rent  and 
other  improvements,  as  well  as  a  more  hygienic  mode  of 
living,  especially  greater  moderation  in  the  use  of  alco- 
hol, deserve  special  mention  in  this  respect.  Increased 
efficiency  of  the  working  force  has  awakened  employers 
to  the  fact  that  the  improved  conditions  of  their  la- 
borers mean  increased  gains  to  themselves.  No  wonder 
that  " social  conscience"  has  become  an  indispensable 
element  of  human  character  in  Germany  and  has  a 
decisive  voice  in  education,  in  legislation,  in  short,  in 
the  general  shaping  of  private  and  public  life.  The 
instruction  and  training  of  the  future  leaders  of  com- 
merce and  industry,  in  their  social  duties  as  citizens 
and  employers,  is  considered  to  be  as  important  an  end 
of  the  commercial  universities  as  the  fitting  of  the 
students  for  their  special  calling. 

Special  industrial  courts  (Gewerbegerichte)  for  the 
protection  of  the  rights  of  laborers  as  employees  have 
been  in  existence  in  Germany  for  a  century. 

The  rise  of  industry  caused  a  change  in  the  tariff 
policy  of  the  Empire,  which  in  1879  changed  from  free 
trade  to  protection.  The  increase  of  population,  the 
annual  loss  to  the  fatherland  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  emigrants,  the  desire  to  provide  raw  material  as  well 


492          HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION    CHAP.  XLV 

as  new  markets  for  the  ever-growing  industry,  caused 
in  1884  the  inauguration  of  the  colonial  policy  of 
Germany,  just  in  the  nick  of  time,  before  the  older 
commercial  powers  had  laid  their  hands  on  all  avail- 
able parts  of  the  globe.  At  first  there  did  not  seem  to 
be  overmuch  value  in  the  territories  acquired  by  Ger- 
many, but  the  outlook  is  more  favorable  since  they 
have  been  thoroughly  explored  and  unexpected  re- 
sources discovered.  It  remains  to  be  seen,  when  the 
Germans  have  finished  their  apprenticeship  in  colonial 
administration,  what  German  systematic  thoroughness 
and  scientific  methods  of  organization  and  exploitation 
will  be  able  to  accomplish. 


CHAPTER  XLVI 

NON-POLITICAL    CURRENTS    DURING    THE    NINETEENTH 
CENTURY 

THE  movement  towards  national  unity  and  consti- 
tutional government  was  so  conspicuously  in  the  fore- 
ground of  German  life  until  the  accomplishments  of 
its  ends  that  it  has  seemed  best  not  to  interrupt  our 
narrative  to  consider  the  other  currents  of  culture  de- 
velopment during  the  century.  The  longing  for  and 
the  realization  of  the  external  embodiment  of  the  Ger- 
man nation  is  coincident  with  the  change  of  the  German 
man  from  a  man  of  thought  into  a  man  of  action.  In- 
deed, the  desire  to  give  physical  expression  to  his  inner 
life,  the  application  to  practical  life  of  the  evolution 
experienced  by  the  national  soul,  may  be  considered 
as  the  ultimate  source  of  the  movement  in  question. 
The  German  Empire  is  the  manifestation  of  this  racial 
will;  call  it  "will  for  power,"  if  you  please,  but  per- 
haps it  may  be  more  adequate  to  call  it  a  will  for 
active  self-realization,  the  irresistible  impulse  to  put  to 
practical  use  forces  and  accomplishments  that  have  lain 
idle. 

Of  course,  there  were  the  sentiments  of  national 
brotherhood,  of  a  desire  for  political  rights.  But  since 
the  creation  of  the  Empire  the  Germans  are  satisfied  to 
leave  one-fourth  of  their  racial  brethren  outside  of  the 
blessings  of  political  unity,  and  in  the  possession  of 
universal  suffrage  the  majority  are  apparently  not  in 

493 


494  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

a  hurry  to  establish  what  we  might  call  a  truly  demo- 
cratic government.  Indeed,  they  see  in  their  Emperor, 
their  army  and  navy,  and  then-  bureaucracy  so  many 
representatives  or  visible  parts  of  that  product  of  self- 
realization,  i.e.,  the  Empire.  Up  to  the  present  it  has 
filled  its  purpose  sufficiently  well  to  make  them  over- 
look many  shortcomings,  just  as  a  manufacturer  will 
keep  a  machine  which  turns  out  satisfactory  work, 
in  spite  of  some  defects  in  its  parts,  and,  rushed  with 
orders,  he  is  even  loath  to  interrupt  his  work  in  order 
to  mend  these  defects. 

The  political  movement  was,  therefore,  not  unnat- 
urally accompanied  by  a  development  of  commerce  and 
industry,  an  interest  in  the  sciences  of  reality  and  the 
practical  application  of  scientific  results;  instead  of 
speculative  philosophy  the  natural  sciences  and  history, 
based  on  the  investigation  and  verification  of  actual 
occurrences  and  conditions  of  the  past,  take  the  lead  in 
the  intellectual  world.  Even  literature  and  art  find  gen- 
eral recognition  only  when  placed  in  the  service  of  the 
ruling  tendencies  of  the  times.  Perhaps  nothing  is  more 
significant  than  the  fact  that  the  very  greatest  writers 
of  Germany  during  the  nineteenth  century  were  almost 
overlooked  by  then-  contemporaries  and  find  due  recog- 
nition only  with  the  approach  of  the  twentieth  century. 

During  the  first  decades  of  the  century  speculative 
philosophy  held  high  sway.  Hegel,  with  his  historical 
view  of  the  world,  as  the  realization  of  supreme  reason, 
and  his  dialectic,  rules  the  mind.  His  philosophy 
furnished  the  philosophical  excuse  for  the  reactionary 
tendencies  in  state  and  Church  at  Berlin,  which  found 
support  likewise  in  Romanticism,  while  the  Liberals 
found  their  philosophical  ammunition  in  the  writings 
of  Fichte  and  Schelling,  the  latter  himself  a  Romanticist. 


XLVI  NON-POLITICAL   CURRENTS  495 

But  out  of  Hegel's  school  go  forth  the  most  radical 
enemies  of  political  conservatism  and  ecclesiastical 
orthodoxy.  Disciples  of  Hegelianism  are  David  Fried- 
rich  Strauss,  whose  Life  of  Jesus  appeared  in  1835,  and 
Feuerbach,  the  father  of  German  materialism.  The 
liberal  opposition  to  the  Church  as  one  of  the  reaction- 
ary forces  made  this  view  of  the  world  welcome  to 
many  members  of  the  educated  class.  Strauss  himself 
adopted  the  materialist  doctrine  and  preached  it 
in  his  later  work,  "The  Old  and  the  New  Creed" 
(1872).  Hegelians  were  also  the  founders  of  modern 
socialism,  Karl  Marx  and  Friedrich  Engels.  In  the 
middle  of  the  century  the  mechanical  view  of  the 
world  became  more  and  more  popularized,  reviving 
the  French  materialism  of  the  eighteenth  century.  In 
the  meantime  the  scientists  had  broken  loose  from  phi- 
losophy altogether.  The  great  discoveries  in  natural 
science  led  them  to  believe  that  observation  and  ex- 
periment were  the  only  means  of  getting  at  the  truth 
underlying  the  universe.  What  could  not  be  measured 
and  weighed  had  no  existence  for  them.  Karl  Vogt 
and  Moleschott  may  be  considered  as  the  chief  German 
representatives  of  this  mechano-chemical  theory  of  the 
universe.  Thus  science  and  philosophy  had  come  to 
the  same  results.  Biichner's  rather  shallow  book, ' '  Kraft 
und  Stoff,"  -"Force  and  Matter,"  -continued  the 
work  of  popularization  and  was  accepted  as  the  essence 
of  an  enlightened  view  of  the  world  by  the  general 
reading  public.  The  appearance  of  Darwin's  "De- 
scent of  Man"  was  welcomed  as  another  evidence  for 
the  truth  of  materialism.  Darwinism  and  materialism 
were  taken  as  equivalent.  "Force  and  Matter"  held 
its  own  as  the  greatly  admired  authority  of  German  in- 
tellectual youth.  It  still  held  the  centre  of  popularity 


496  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN    CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

when  the  Socialist  party  began  to  arouse  the  proletariat 
to  a  higher  intellectual  life,  and  has  for  a  great  many 
of  them  taken  the  place  of  the  Bible.  We  must, 
however,  be  careful  not  to  confound  this  materialist 
view  of  the  world,  which  took  the  form  of  atheism  or 
pantheism,  with  the  ethical  materialism  in  the  relations 
of  human  life.  On  the  contrary,  those  who  were  the 
most  unselfish  enthusiasts  for  the  ideals  of  humanity,  to 
be  obtained  on  earth,  were  found  among  the  number 
of  those  who  denied  the  existence  of  a  God  and  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul ;  while  those  who  considered  the 
good  things  of  this  world,  the  material  welfare,  a  mo- 
nopoly of  the  few  for  whom  the  rest  of  the  people  were 
destined  to  toil  and  sweat,  were  faithful  members 
of  the  churches,  with  the  clergy  only  too  willing  to  help 
them.  This  explains  easily  why  Social  Democracy  is 
hostile  to  the  Church,  and  why  the  materialistic  view 
of  the  world  has  remained  so  closely  connected  with 
the  economical  doctrine  of  Socialism.  The  latter, 
holding  out  before  the  laborer  a  comfortable  life  on 
earth,  such  as  he  sees  realized  before  his  own  eyes  by 
the  more  fortunate  classes,  has  the  advantage  of  those 
who  can  promise  only  the  happiness  of  heaven,  which 
never  has  been  the  object  of  actual  experience.  Too 
late  the  leaders  of  Christian  thought  have  discovered 
that  the  demands  of  the  proletariat  might  be  founded 
on  Christian  doctrine,  as  were  those  of  the  peasants  in 
Reformation  times.  As  it  is,  continental  Socialism  and 
Atheism  go  mostly  together,  and  the  efforts  to  separate 
them  have  not  been  very  successful,  though  the  German 
Social  Democratic  party  has,  for  tactical  reasons,  de- 
clared religion  to  be  a  private  affair. 

The  new  realistic  attitude  of  the  mind  made  itself 
felt  within  the  Church,  as  we  have  already  seen  in  D.  F. 


XLVI  NON-POLITICAL  CURRENTS  497 

Strauss's  book.  The  principles  of  historical  and  phil- 
ological criticism  were  applied  to  the  Bible,  most 
prominently  at  the  University  of  Tubingen,  strongly 
supported  by  attempts  to  bring  the  teachings  of 
the  Scriptures  in  accord  with  the  result  of  science. 
But  the  "  Rationalist "  element  in  the  Protestant 
Church  made  very  little  progress  at  first,  a  fact  which 
helped  to  estrange  the  radical  lay  element.  Since  the 
beginning  of  the  sixties,  a  continuous  growth  of  the 
liberal  forces  within  the  Protestant  Church  is  observable, 
more  so  since  the  reaction  against  pure  materialism 
has  set  in  with  the  intellectual  classes ;  but  still  the 
orthodox  element,  supported  by  the  government,  is 
in  control.  Within  the  Catholic  Church  liberalism 
tried  to  assert  itself  in  the  formation  of  a  "  German 
Catholic  Church"  in  1844  and  again  of  the  "Old 
Catholic  Church"  in  1871,  both  without  vitality 
and  influence,  although  the  latter  during  the  times 
of  the  Kulturkampf  enjoyed  the  protection  and 
financial  support  of  the  Protestant  governments.  All 
these  movements  find  their  parallels  in  other  civilized 
countries,  of  course,  but  they  are  of  a  peculiar  impor- 
tance in  Germany,  on  account  of  the  intricate  con- 
nection of  the  Church  and  state  in  that  country  and 
the  osmosis  of  intellect  and  emotion  in  the  German 
character. 

Philosophy  proper  seemed  entirely  discredited.  Dis- 
satisfaction with  existing  conditions  turned  these  in- 
dependent thinkers  who  did  not  accept  materialism  to 
embrace  the  pessimism  of  Schopenhauer  and  later  that 
of  his  most  eminent  follower,  Eduard  von  Hartmann. 
Hartmann  (" Philosophy  of  the  Unconscious"),  Lotze 
("Mikrokosmus"),  and  F.  A.  Lange  ("History  of  Ma- 
terialism" )  may  be  mentioned  as  the  most  repre- 

2K 


498  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

sentative  philosophers,  who  tried  to  set  their  idealism 
against  the  materialistic  tide.  However,  the  philosophi- 
cal study  turned  mostly  to  the  theory  of  knowledge,  to 
history  of  philosophy,  and  to  psychology. 

The  intellectual  and  spiritual  revolution  which  began 
about  the  year  1830  was,  as  we  have  seen,  a  funda- 
mental one.  The  struggle  was  fought  along  the  whole 
line  and  compelled  those  who  took  an  active  part  in  the 
life  of  the  nation  to  choose  a  definite  stand,  not  only 
on  political  and  religious  questions,  but  also  on  social, 
ethical,  and  sesthetical  problems.  The  hottest  battle 
was  fought  in  the  field  of  literature,  which  became 
decidedly  partisan.  Only  those  writers  gained  public 
favor  who  placed  their  pen  unreservedly  in  the  service 
of  the  popular  demands.  One  feels  tempted  to  say  that 
German  public  opinion  had  lost  the  feeling  for  the  perma- 
nent values  in  literature  and  was  receptive  only  for  those 
products  that  might  be  used  to  meet  the  immediate  in- 
terests of  the  day.  Even  while  the  readjustment  of 
political  and  social  conditions  did  not  hold  a  conspicuous 
place  on  the  surface  of  national  life,  the  need  for  it  was 
not  less  vividly  felt ;  a  part  of  the  intellectual  public, 
disgusted  by  the  excesses  of  the  political  Muse,  turned 
to  a  worship  of  elegant  form  which  passed  by  the  really 
powerful  representatives  of  true  national  poetry.  After- 
wards, the  Bismarckian  era,  wonderful  spectacle  of 
national  vigor  as  it  offers  in  general,  still  is  not  devoid 
of  certain  symptoms  of  cultural  morbidity,  which  was 
not  conducive  to  the  appreciation  nor  the  creation  of 
true  art.  Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  many  of  the  best 
writers  of  the  century,  inferior  only  to  Goethe  and 
Schiller,  had  to  be  rediscovered  when  the  crisis  in  the 
national  development  came  to  an  end  and  began  to  give 
room  to  a  feeling  of  greater  security  and  health.  Men 


XLVI  NON-POLITICAL  CURRENTS  499 

like  Kleist,  Grillparzer,  Moericke,  Ludwig,  Hebbel, 
Jordan,  Raabe,  Keller,  have  only  recently  found  the 
appreciation  they  deserve.  So  little  known  were  these 
great  writers  to  their  own  nation  that,  when  the  re- 
action set  in  against  the  threatening  degeneracy, 
shortly  before  and  contemporaneously  with  the  begin- 
ning of  the  reign  of  Emperor  William  II,  the  "  youngest 
Germany  "  turned  to  French,  Scandinavian,  and  Russian 
authors  for  literary  discoveries  which  they  might  have 
found  in  the  German  literature  of  a  few  generations  ago. 
These  products  of  the  national  spirit  would  have  been 
more  congenial  to  their  people  than  the  appropriations 
and  imitations  from  foreign  writers.  But  the  generation 
that  went  to  school  before  1880  was  brought  up  hi  the 
opinion  that  after  Schiller  and  Goethe  German  literature 
had  produced  a  few  scattered  poems  of  merit,  but  no 
personalities  worth  knowing.  Their  literary  diet  out- 
side of  school  consisted  of  writers  like  Marlitt,  E. 
Werner,  and  others  of  that  ilk,  and,  perhaps,  Heine, 
Freytag,  Spielhagen,  Heyse,  Scheffel,  Dahn,  and  Ebers. 
Heine  had  been  the  leader  of  the  political  storm  and 
stress  period  from  1830  to  1848,  and  has  remained  a 
favorite  with  those  who  are  not  hi  voluntary  or  in- 
voluntary dependence  of  "official  Germany."  He  has 
been  and  is  of  great  influence  with  a  great  part  of  the 
German  youth,  though  modern  nationalism  is  strongly 
against  him.  Indeed,  there  are  a  few  only  of  the  poeti- 
cally inclined  who  do  not  show  in  their  first  poems  the 
deep  impression  made  upon  them  by  Heine.  His 
language,  both  in  prose  and  poetry,  is  rather 
loose,  often  too  much  so ;  but  it  has  helped  much  to 
open  the  eyes  of  the  Germans  to  the  usual  stiltedness  of 
German  style.  With  pitiless  sarcasm  he  has  scourged 
the  shortcomings,  not  only  of  the  German  conditions  of 


500  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

the  period,  especially  of  the  governments,  but  also  of  the 
character  of  the  German  people.  On  the  other  hand,  he 
has  found  most  beautiful  expressions  for  the  tenderest 
emotions  of  the  German  soul.  There  is,  next  to  Goethe, 
no  German  poet  who  has  found  so  much  appreciation 
abroad  as  he.  The  antagonism  shown  to  him  by  offi- 
cialdom and  race  cranks  is  a  proof  that  his  writings 
are  a  living  force.  There  is  only  Schiller  that  excels 
him  in  popularity  to-day,  barring  Goethe's  preeminent 
hold  on  the  intellectuals. 

Here  the  German  youth  finds  expression  for  the  con- 
trasting emotions  of  his  soul,  when  the  wide  chasm  be- 
tween the  ideal  and  the  realities  begins  to  dawn  on 
him  in  melancholy  experience.  Its  keynote  is  the  old 
German  zwivel,  the  Weltschmerz,  not  by  any  means 
so  modern  a  mood  as  many  think.  Old  Bismarck,  who 
on  his  lonely  walks  in  the  "  Sachsenwald "  carried  a 
volume  of  Heine  in  his  coat  pocket,  may  tell  us  how 
wide  the  circle  of  his  admirers  really  is.  The  cultured 
world  outside  of  Germany  wonder  that  among  the 
superabundance  of  monuments  in  which  Germany  in- 
dulges, where  even  the  inventor  of  the  card  game  of  Skat 
has  his  statue,  Heine  had  to  forego  this  honor  for  so  long 
a  tune.  Still,  it  is  clear  that  the  citizen  who  is  a  Skat 
enthusiast  is  much  easier  governed  than  an  admirer  of 
Heine. 

The  opposition  to  Heine,  however,  it  must  be  said,  is 
not  confined  to  the  official  world,  the  Clericals  and  the 
Anti-Semites.  We  must  not  forget  that  for  the  German 
a  work  of  art  must  be  the  expression  of  a  strong  person- 
ality, and  this  they  fail  to  find  in  Heine.  Then,  this  is  a 
time  of  strong  national  or  race  feeling,  especially  strong 
in  Germany,  where  it  asserts  itself  after  a  long  period 
of  humiliation,  and  there  is  much  in  Heine  that  must 


XLVI  NON-POLITICAL  CURRENTS  501 

strike  a  German  as  foreign.  The  self-debasing  irony 
with  which  Heine  has  seemed  to  brand  his  best  creations 
as  insincere,  is  looked  upon  by  many  as  a  defamation  of 
man's  most  sacred  feelings.  And  yet  it  is  decidedly 
German  to  feel  ashamed  of  one's  innermost  emotions 
exposed  to  the  public  eye.  When,  with  the  passing 
of  the  generation  that  began  life  without  it,  the 
feeling  of  secure  national  existence  has  become  so 
natural  to  the  German  that  he  is  not  even  conscious  of 
its  presence ;  when  the  self-conscious  strength  of  the 
nation  has  so  changed  the  national  character  that  it 
will  have  outgrown  the  faults  to  the  criticism  of  which 
they  are  still  sensitive,  the  poet  will  not  lack  the  public 
appreciation  at  home  that  is  willingly  conceded  to  him 
abroad.  At  present,  too  many  questions  of  vital  im- 
portance are  before  the  German  people  to  allow  the 
erection  of  a  monument  to  a  favorite  poet  to  become 
a  political  issue. 

As  popular  as  many  of  Heine's  immediate  followers, 
centred  in  the  literary  group  of  "Young  Germany," 
were  hi  their  time,  we  must  leave  it  to  history  of  litera- 
ture to  give  them  their  proper  rank;  it  is  the  same 
tendency  that  is  at  work  in  them  all. 

After  the  failure  of  the  Revolution  of  1848  and  1849, 
part  of  the  educated  class  turned  away  from  a  literature 
that  in  the  heat  of  battle  had  frequently  lost  its  artistic 
character  and  had  sunk  to  the  level  of  journalism,  some- 
tunes  not  even  of  an  elevated  kind .  Romanticism  was  re- 
vived in  its  most  unwholesome  form,  characterized  best, 
perhaps,  by  mentioning  as  its  most  representative  work 
Oscar  von  Redwitz's  " Amaranth"  with  its  saccharine 
moonshine.  Others  devoted  themselves  to  a  cult  of 
form  that  was  not  at  all  in  keeping  with  German  tradition. 
But  Geibel  and  Heyse,  the  masters  of  this  school,  for  a 


502  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

long  time  held  the  centre  of  the  stage,  and  therefore 
became  the  principal  objects  of  attack  and  contempt 
for  the  modern  literary  reformers. 

But  a  few  authors  of  greater  depth  succeeded  in  ob- 
taining popularity  at  this  tune  who  clothed  their  mes- 
sage in  the  Low-German  dialect,  showing  the  peasant 
population  and  inhabitants  of  smaller  cities  of  northern 
Germany  in  their  daily  life  as  a  thoroughly  healthy 
people.  The  same  service  was  performed  by  Gustav 
Freytag  hi  his  novel  "Sollund  Haben"  —  "  Debit  and 
Credit" —  for  the  trading  middle  class,  and  in  "Die 
Verlorene  Handschrift"  —  "The  Lost  Manuscript" 
for  the  university  world.  All  this  was  welcome  to  the 
people  preparing  to  assert  itself,  and  strengthened  their 
confidence  in  their  own  worth.  He  who  wants  to  see  the 
"German  people  at  work"  in  this  period  of  holding 
the  breath  before  the  last  dash  of  national  assertion 
must  read  these  books. 

There  is  one  other  poet  of  this  period  whose  popu- 
larity did  not  have  to  wait  long  for  recognition,  I  mean 
Scheffel,  who  found  his  stanchest  admirers  amongst 
that  class  of  greatest  enthusiasts  in  Germany,  the  Ger- 
man students.  As  Heine's  songs  give  to  the  senti- 
mental side  of  the  German  youth  such  an  adequate 
expression  as  to  make  him  feel  that  the  poet  had  simply 
anticipated  his  own  feelings,  Scheffel's  humor  seems  to 
come  out  of  the  students'  own  Kneipzeitung,  the 
written  periodical  made  up  by  contributions  of  the 
members  of  the  student  corporations  and  read  at  their 
weekly  social  gatherings.  A  cloudburst  of  youthful 
poetry  and  humor,  frequently  not  without  artistic  merit 
or  even  genius,  floods  the  German  university  world  in 
this  manner  every  week  and  disappears  in  the  soil  like 
a  refreshing  summer  shower.  As  to  Scheffel,  he  is 


XLVI  NON-POLITICAL  CURRENTS  503 

thoroughly  German  in  all  his  works,  the  German  view  of 
life  underlies  his  poems  as  well  as  that  masterpiece  of  his- 
torical fiction,  his  "Ekkehard,"  for  a  long  time  the  most 
widely  read  German  novel.  It  would  be  interesting 
to  follow  up  the  lines  of  research  why  Reuter,  Freytag, 
and  Scheffel  succeeded  in  entering  into  the  national  life, 
when  greater  ones  like  Ludwig,  Hebbel,  and  Raabe 
failed. 

The  period  immediately  before  the  founding  of  the 
Empire,  when  commerce  and  industry  and  new-made 
riches  began  to  play  their  part,  when  it  became  the 
ambition  of  Berlin  to  become  the  capital  of  Germany 
in  the  same  sense  as  Paris  is  the  centre  of  French  life, 
means  a  falling  off  in  the  quality  of  German  litera- 
ture and  in  some  other  sides  of  national  life,  which 
lasted  until  in  the  second  decade  of  the  new  order  of 
things.  The  result  of  the  Franco-German  War,  with 
the  sudden  increase  of  national  wealth,  the  effect  of 
the  popularization  of  the  natural  sciences,  which,  with 
the  same  shallow  self-satisfaction  as  the  decadent 
Rationalism  of  the  eighteenth  century,  claimed  that 
the  world  held  no  more  problems  for  deepest  thought, 
and  the  occupation  of  the  best  minds  with  political  and 
social  problems  promoted,  rather  than  hindered,  the 
reign  of  commercialism  and  ephemeral  success  in 
the  world  of  literature  and  art.  It  was  the  period 
when  the  solid  growth  of  German  industry  and  com- 
merce was  interrupted  by  most  unhealthy  speculations ; 
money  never  had  been  so  plentiful  in  Germany,  and, 
for  a  time,  the  surface  of  life  was  bubbling  with  all  the 
vulgar  luxury  of  freshly  acquired  wealth.  It  was  the 
prominent  part  which  Jewish  financiers  as  well  as  Jew- 
ish writers  played  in  this  debauch  of  the  business  and 
literary  world  which,  favored  by  the  strengthened  race- 


504  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

feeling,  has  given  rise  to  that  disgraceful  phenomenon 
of  anti-Semitism.  Though  slowly  abating  in  its  most  ob- 
noxious forms,  it  has  done  untold  harm  in  preventing  for 
years  the  assimilation  of  the  Jews  which,  especially  with 
the  better  classes,  had  made  most  promising  progress. 

A  financial  crisis  soon  made  evident  the  hollowness  of 
this  apparent  success.  The  words  of  the  now  famous 
criticism  of  German  industry  by  the  Imperial  Commis- 
sioner to  the  Centennial  Exhibition  in  Philadelphia, 
1876,  "Cheap  and  Bad,"  may,  without  great  injustice, 
be  applied  to  the  products  of  art,  and  what  has  been 
said  of  the  German  literature  of  the  century,  to  wit, 
that  the  best  authors  remained  almost  unknown  to 
their  contemporaries,  is  even  more  true  as  to  painting 
and  sculpture.  We  know  now  that  during  the  first 
half  of  the  century  German  art  attained  a  high  stand- 
ard. Though  Cornelius,  Rauch,  Schinkel,  Semper, 
Schwanthaler,  and  others  did  not  fail  of  recognition  in 
their  time,  the  number  of  artists  of  excellence,  dis- 
covered by  the  retrospective  exhibitions  of  our  days, 
who  have  been  forgotten  or  even  have  never  been  heard 
of  outside  of  the  narrowest  local  circle  is  astonishing,  and 
has  revealed  the  fact  that,  as  in  literature,  so  in  art,  the 
pre-imperial  Germany  had  reached  all  those  attainments 
which  the  modern  artists  went  abroad  to  learn.  To 
talk  of  a  truly  national  art  in  the  sense  that  it  had  be- 
come the  property  of  a  considerable  part  of  the  people 
would,  of  course,  be  incorrect,  no  matter  how  distinc- 
tive a  character  its  works  exhibit.  The  poverty  of  the 
Germans  did  not  allow  the  buying  of  pictures  by  private 
persons,  outside  of  one  private  gallery,  and  thus  of 
oil-paintings  portraits  almost  alone  found  their  way 
into  private  houses.  Modern  travelling  facilities  were 
unknown,  and  the  treasures  of  public  galleries  were  ac- 


XLVI  NON-POLITICAL  CURRENTS  505 

cessible  to  a  few  only.  Even  good  graphic  reproduc- 
tions were  not  easily  obtainable.  Thus  of  artists  who 
became  truly  popular  we  can  mention,  perhaps,  only 
Ludwig  Richter  and  Moritz  von  Schwind,  who,  poor 
colorists  though  they  are,  gave  true  expression,  and 
therefore  appealed  to  the  soul-life  as  it  revealed  itself 
in  work  and  pleasure,  in  street  and  home,  hi  field 
and  forest,  as  well  as  in  song,  story,  and  fairy-tale.  As 
in  literature  we  may  mention  some  names  that  have 
found  their  proper  place  in  popular  favor  only  in  recent 
times,  as  Rethel,  Menzel,  Boeklin,  Leibl,  Thoma,  and 
others,  while  I  mention  the  name  of  Hans  Makart  as 
the  favorite  of  the  period  of  vulgarity,  contemporane- 
ous with  the  beginning  of  the  Empire. 

It  is  in  this  period  of  artistic  decay  that  Richard 
Wagner  reached  the  height  of  his  success.  There  was, 
perhaps,  no  other  occasion  which  brought  forth  the 
full  vulgarity  of  a  shoddy  public  that  noisily  tried  to 
set  the  fashion  for  the  German  people,  as  far  as  they 
made  themselves  conspicuous,  than  the  scenes  before 
and  during  the  opening  of  the  Bayreuth  theatre.  This 
observation  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  high  place  the 
composer  holds  in  the  hall  of  fame  of  German  music. 
He  was  not  the  product  of  that  time,  and  it  was  not  the 
best  in  him  that  gave  rise  to  the  boisterous  controversy. 
As  a  personality  he  towers  like  a  giant  above  the 
pygmies  with  whom  he  had  to  share  the  popular  favor 
of  his  day.  No  matter  what  place  history  will  concede 
to  him,  it  will  be  one  of  highest  honor ;  but  in  the  evo- 
lution of  German  culture  his  crowning  achievement, 
"Parsival,"  does  not  express  the  ideal  of  the  rejuvenated 
nation,  nor  does  it  revive  the  spirit  of  German  classi- 
cism ;  it  is  at  best,  artistically  spoken,  the  last  word  of 
the  pessimism  and  romanticism  of  a  dying  age. 


506  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

It  would  be  wrong  to  go  on  with  this  narrative  with- 
out mentioning  at  least  a  few  of  the  men  who,  after 
Beethoven  and  the  classical  period,  were  instrumental 
in  making  music  such  an  integral  part  of  German  na- 
tional life.  Already  during  the  time  of  Napoleonic  rule 
the  famous  Male  Singing  Society  of  Berlin,  Zelter's 
Liedertafel,  had  been  founded  for  the  expressed  pur- 
pose "of  singing  in  the  service  of  the  King  and  Father- 
land, of  the  Common  Good,  of  the  German  Soul  and 
German  Faithfulness,"  and  had  attracted  the  active 
interest  of  Goethe.  Carl  Maria  von  Weber  composed 
some  of  his  best  songs  for  this  society.  In  the  South 
similar  societies  were  organized  under  the  influence  of 
the  Swiss  Naegeli,  and  on  the  impulse  of  the  enthusiasm 
aroused  by  Weber's  stirring  compositions  for  Koerner's 
patriotic  songs.  Silcher  and  Kreuzer  were  their  most 
popular  composers.  The  German  student  song  must 
not  be  forgotten  in  this  connection.  The  Romanti- 
cists contributed  their  collection  of  "Volkslieder "  in 
"Des  Knaben-Wunderhorn,"  while  especially  some  of 
Eichendorf  s  poems  have  inspired  some  of  the  most 
popular  compositions.  In  1821  Weber's  "Freischiitz," 
that  most  "German"  of  operas,  found  a  most  enthu- 
siastic reception,  and  appeals  more  to  the  tastes  of  the 
German  people  to-day  than  Salome  or  Electra.  From 
Weber  the  current  of  musical  development  leads  directly 
to  Richard  Wagner,  who  turned  to  him  after  discover- 
ing the  shallowness  of  the  cosmopolitan  school  of 
Meyerbeer,  whose  music  he  characterized  as  "an  effect 
without  cause." 

What  Weber,  Silcher,  Erck,  and  others  had  become 
for  the  popular  mass-song  is  paralleled  in  the  composi- 
tions of  Mendelssohn-Bartholdi,  Schubert,  and  Schu- 
mann for  the  social  culture  of  the  family. 


XLVI  NON-POLITICAL  CURRENTS  507 

As  to  the  period  of  decadence  mentioned  before,  we 
are  too  close  to  it,  too  many  of  us  have  experienced 
its  direct  influence  to  be  able  to  give  an  objective  judg- 
ment. How  deep  the  disease  which  showed  all  the 
symptoms  of  degeneracy  had  infected  the  national 
body  is  hard  to  tell.  However,  we  must  not  forget 
that  while  those  dangerous  symptoms  were,  and  are 
still,  though  in  a  smaller  degree,  conspicuous  on  the 
surface,  the  German  schoolmaster  has  still  been  teach- 
ing, day  by  day,  the  great  lessons  of  veracity,  duty, 
honesty,  and  industry,  and  distributing  the  inheritance 
of  German  idealism,  doubly  valuable  because  so  much 
of  it  had  left  the  world  of  dreams  and  had  become 
reality.  Barbarossa  had  left  the  Kyffhauser,  and  long- 
ing had  been  changed  into  will  and  action.  Still  the 
German  people  sing  their  beautiful  songs. 

German  science,  while  not  entirely  avoiding  com- 
mercialism and  success  worship,  still  continued  its 
search  for  truth,  preparing  to  counteract  the  mischief 
of  premature  popularizers,  while  it  placed  its  results 
in  the  service  of  public  welfare.  Liebig  had  more  than 
doubled  the  productivity  of  the  soil  by  showing  new 
ways  to  agricultural  chemistry  twelve  years  after 
Woehler  had  laid  the  foundation  of  organic  chemistry. 
Robert  Mayer  was  the  first  to  discover  the  Law  of  the 
Conservation  of  Energy;  in  1846,  Werner  Siemens 
invents  the  gutta-percha  insulation  for  cables ;  in 
1857,  the  gas  regenerator ;  in  1866,  the  electro-dynamo, 
and  in  1879,  he  invents  and  operates  the  first  electric 
railway.  Kirchhoff  and  Bunsen  discover  spectrum- 
analysis  in  1860;  Herz  the  electric  waves  in  1888. 
Space  would  not  be  sufficient  to  complete  this  list, 
even  if  we  confined  ourselves  to  a  mere  enumeration 
of  names  and  important  contributions  to  human 


508         HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION    CHAP.  XLVI 

progress,  known  all  over  the  world,  and  belonging  to 
this  period. 

At  the  same  time  the  German  school  systems  have 
been  modernized  by  increasing  the  opportunities  for 
technical  education,  the  expansion  of  the  secondary 
schools. 

It  certainly  sounds  somewhat  exaggerated  when  we 
hear  German  critics  talk  of  national  degeneracy  in  the 
Bismarckian  Era,  simply  because  some  of  the  bad  con- 
sequences of  rapidly  gained  wealth  became  evident, 
and  because  a  superficial  and  premature  popularization 
of  scientific  hypotheses  favored  for  a  time  a  mechanical 
view  of  life;  this  talk  of  degeneracy  is,  perhaps,  prin- 
cipally due  to  the  fact  that  the  change  in  the  condition 
of  the  individual  expected  from  the  achievement  of 
national  unity  was  not  at  once  realized,  and  the  hope 
for  another  Golden  Age  of  Art  and  Literature,  like 
that  of  Greece  after  the  Persian  wars,  had  been  dis- 
appointed. 


CHAPTER  XLVII 

THE   REIGN   OF  WILLIAM   II 

A  NEW  period  begins  for  the  German  Empire  and  for 
German  life  in  general  with  the  last  decade  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  which  had,  indeed,  already  been  prepar- 
ing since  1880.  As  has  been  pointed  out  before,  the  first 
decade  of  the  new  Empire  had  been  taken  up  with  the 
organization  of  its  institutions.  An  attempt  to  assert 
the  authority  of  the  German  state  against  the  Roman 
Church  had  been  abandoned,  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuit 
order  from  the  Empire  being  one  of  the  few  lasting 
results.  The  forces  just  set  free  were  to  be  used  to  keep 
down  the  new  social  element,  the  working  classes,  who 
were  asking  for  recognition  of  their  rights  through  the 
medium  of  the  social-democratic  party.  But  all  re- 
pressive laws  were  of  no  avail ;  the  laborer  had  come  to 
stay,  the  importance  of  the  social  question  made  itself 
felt,  and  the  first  step  towards  its  solution  without  the 
total  destruction  of  the  fabric  of  society  had  been  taken 
in  the  enactment  of  the  laborers'  old  age,  sick  benefit, 
and  accident  insurance  laws.  This,  indeed,  was  only 
a  first  tentative  step  towards  the  solution  of  a  new 
problem,  more  difficult,  but  even  more  urgent,  than  the 
many  others  agitating  the  national  soul. 

These  measures  must  not  be  defined  as  paternalism ; 
they  mean  an  expansion  of  the  conception  of  the  state. 
They  mean  the  recognition  of  the  furtherance  of  human 
culture  in  its  widest  sense  as  a  purpose  of  the  national 

509 


510  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

state  in  addition  to  the  protection  of  its  citizens. 
Indeed,  it  was  only  the  natural  consequence  of  the  de- 
velopment that  set  in  with  the  period  of  enlightened 
despotism,  and  a  development  not  at  all  in  contrast 
with  the  Germanic  conception  of  organized  society,  in 
which  all  those  tasks  were  allotted  to  the  state  which 
could  not  be  adequately  performed  by  the  in- 
dividual. In  other  words,  the  German  sees  in  the 
state,  as  a  recent  writer  expresses  it,  "the  executive 
instrument  of  the  organized  will  of  the  people." 

The  social  problem  is  of  an  international  character, 
indeed,  but  its  solution  is  nowhere  so  urgent  as  in  Ger- 
many, since  nowhere  are  the  representatives  of  labor 
so  well  organized  and  so  radical  in  their  demands ;  and 
in  no  other  country  has  democracy  had  so  little  time  for 
development  before  the  great  industrial  change  took 
place.  This  social  question  has  come  so  prominently 
into  the  foreground  that  it  has  caused  a  complete  de- 
moralization of  the  old  political  parties,  since  people 
who  stand  for  the  same  political  principles  differ  widely 
on  the  social-economical  side.  There  is  a  process  of 
readjustment  going  on  now.  It  would  seem  but  nat- 
ural that  the  men  whose  political  ideal  is  the  participa- 
tion of  the  governed  in  the  government  under  some 
form  of  constitution  would  come  to  a  point  where  they 
are  willing  to  give  the  working-man  a  voice  in  the  shap- 
ing of  the  conditions  which  control  his  labor.  At  the 
same  time,  in  the  ranks  of  the  Social  Democracy,  a  re- 
cession from  the  doctrinarianism  of  the  first  years 
appears  to  be  noticeable,  and,  as  is  but  natural  with 
German  thinkers,  the  view  gains  ground  that  any 
change  towards  their  social  ideal  can  be  brought  about 
only  by  organic  development  of  the  historical  factors. 
The  neglect  of  the  historical  element  is  easily  under- 


XLVII  THE  REIGN  OF  WILLIAM  II  511 

stood  in  a  party  whose  existence  does  not  date  any 
farther  back  than  the  present  political  conditions. 
Thus,  while  the  Socialist  party  escaped  the  disadvan- 
tage of  being  too  closely  bound  by  historical  tradition, 
only  too  common  in  German  life,  it  made  the  opposite 
mistake  of  overlooking  the  law  of  historical  continuity 
altogether. 

In  the  meantime  German  industry,  which  had  caused 
this  social  unrest,  has,  by  diligent  application  of  both 
the  results  and  the  discipline  of  German  science,  be- 
come ready  to  enter  the  markets  of  the  world.  Thirteen 
years  after  the  Philadelphia  Exhibition  and  Professor 
Reuleaux's  scathing  criticism,  the  Paris  Exhibition 
revealed  an  unprecedented  advance  and  showed  that 
Germany  had  as  good  as  removed  the  difference  that 
for  so  long  had  placed  England  and  France  ahead  of 
her  in  industrial  civilization.  At  home  the  change 
from  an  agricultural  to  an  industrial  nation  had  been 
completed,  and  an  unparalleled  increase  of  the  popu- 
lation of  the  cities  had  set  in. 

The  solution  of  numberless  questions  of  practical 
politics,  in  which  everybody  participated  under  uni- 
versal suffrage ;  the  powerful  position  of  the  Empire, 
which,  under  Bismarck's  leadership,  held  the  political 
supremacy  of  Europe ;  the  example  of  practical  energy 
given  by  the  Iron  Chancellor  himself;  the  strenuous 
tension  of  the  new  industrial  rivalry  and  the  wider  view, 
opened  by  international  commerce ;  the  control  over 
nature  gained  by  the  great  progress  of  the  natural 
sciences  and  the  inclination  towards  a  mechanical  view 
of  the  world ;  again,  the  industrial  application  of 
science,  which,  active  heretofore  only  in  the  search 
after  truth,  now  had  become  the  servant  of  wealth-pro- 
ducing activities,  —  all  this  had  apparently  made  out 


512  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

of  the  nation  of  " poets  and  thinkers"  a  nation  of  wealth- 
seekers  and  men  of  practical  life.  It  seemed  as  if 
German  idealism  had  played  its  part.  Such  was  the 
character  of  German  life  when  the  first  generations  who 
had  received  their  education  in  the  schools  of  a  united 
Germany  entered  upon  the  stage  of  political  and  social 
life.  These  young  men  had  grown  up  as  the  sons  of  a 
great  and  respected  nation,  not  merely  the  subjects  of 
some  petty  prince  whom  and  whose  nation  any  under- 
ling of  a  foreign  government  might  insult  without  fear 
of  rebuke. 

Fate  willed  that  at  the  same  time  a  man  of  the  same 
generation  should  ascend  the  throne  of  the  Empire. 
Wilhelm  II,  in  contrast  to  his  father  and  grandfather, 
had  before  him,  from  boyhood,  the  prospect  of  the  Im- 
perial Crown,  and  in  another  sense  he  belonged  to  a 
new  generation  of  princes  inasmuch  as  he  had  shared 
the  school  life  of  at  least  his  educated  subjects. 

Thus  it  happens  that  the  reign  of  Wilhelm  II  marks 
an  epoch  in  German  life,  not  in  the  sense  that  he  was 
the  cause  of  this  change,  but  by  a  coincidence  outside 
of  human  control.  Even  if  he  was  less  of  a  personality 
himself,  his  reign  would  go  down  to  history  as  one  of  the 
most  interesting  periods  of  German  development.  As 
it  is,  he  joins  in  the  struggle  as  an  element  to  be  counted 
with,  now  fostering  progress,  now  trying  to  stem  him- 
self against  the  tide  of  modern  development. 

The  first  decade  of  the  young  Emperor's  rule  was  a 
time  of  dissatisfaction.  The  reasons  for  this  have 
been  in  part  explained  in  the  last  chapter.  The  faults 
of  the  Germans  have  never  lacked  critics  among  their 
own  nation;  now  we  find  a  whole  group  of  " culture 
critics,"  of  people  who  take  issue  with  the  tendencies 
of  the  time,  and  the  lack  of  what  they  call  a  truly 


XLVII  THE   REIGN   OF  WILLIAM   II  513 

national  culture.  The  most  important  of  these  was 
Friedrich  Nietzsche,  "the  philosopher,  poet,  and 
prophet."  But  there  are  other  elements  entering  into 
the  general  feeling  of  discontent  with  existing  condi- 
tions ;  they  were  not  confined  to  Germany,  but  repre- 
sented the  attitude  of  the  civilized  world  for  which  the 
term  fin  de  siecle  has  become  popular.  In  Germany, 
where  the  universal  military  service,  the  strong  rule  of 
bureaucracy  under  a  head  like  Bismarck,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  general  democratic  tendencies  of  the 
century  and  the  spread  of  socialism,  on  the  other, 
apparently  strove  for  the  same  result  of  bringing  all 
people  to  the  same  level,  individualism  felt  more  than 
usually  oppressed  and  joined  the  forces  of  the  mal- 
contents. 

The  "new  course"  entered  upon  by  Wilhelm  caused 
an  endless  amount  of  criticism,  and  even  irritation. 
The  reception  which  Professor  Quidde's  "Caligula,"  one 
of  the  most  clever  and  sensational  political  pasquils  ever 
published,  found  on  all  sides  shows  most  clearly  the 
trend  of  public  opinion.  The  whole  pamphlet  con- 
sisted of  quotations  from  Roman  historians  on  the 
Roman  Emperor  Caligula.  No  reference  whatever  to 
Wilhelm  II  was  to  be  found,  so  that  no  case  could  be 
made  out  against  its  author,  but  everybody  exchanged 
in  his  mind  the  name  of  the  ruling  German  Emperor  for 
that  of  the  ancient  Roman  one  of  unenviable  fame.  I  will 
not  say  that  no  good  reasons  might  be  given  why  Bis- 
marck should  have  made  room  for  a  younger,  more 
modern  Chancellor,  but  the  concomitant  circumstances 
of  his  dismissal  gave  to  the  world  the  most  disgraceful 
spectacle  of  base  ingratitude  and  cowardly  byzantinism 
the  accredited  leaders  of  any  modern  nation  have  ever 
displayed;  a  fact  which  can  be  explained  but  never 

2L 


514  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

excused.  It  aroused  the  indignant  protest  of  the  grow- 
ing generation,  which  in  the  schools  of  the  new  Empire 
had  learned  to  see  in  him  and  the  old  Emperor  the 
makers  of  their  nation,  and  had  entered  the  political  life 
ready  to  be  stanch  supporters  of  the  government  and 
its  conservative  policy.  The  true  sentiment  of  the 
people  showed  itself  in  a  continuous  series  of  pilgrimages 
from  all  parts  of  the  Empire  to  the  old  Chancellor's 
Buen  Retiro  in  Friedrichsruhe,  and  in  the  attention 
with  which  the  utterance  of  his  titanic  wrath  as  well 
as  of  his  wise,  statesman-like  counsels  were  received. 
The  German  academical  youth  showed  once  more  their 
healthy  national  spirit,  and  there  was  no  more  hopeful 
sign  for  the  future  of  Germany  than  the  pilgrimage  of 
ten  thousand  students  doing  homage  to  the  founder  of 
their  nation  at  his  eightieth  birthday. 

The  vacillating  policy  of  the  Emperor,  who  under- 
took to  be  his  own  chancellor,  added  a  new  element  of 
insecurity  to  the  restlessness  of  the  nation.  It  did 
not  take  long  to  see  that  the  commanding  position 
occupied  by  Germany,  as  long  as  Bismarck  held  the 
helm  of  state,  had  been  lost  when  the  pilot  left  the  ship. 
The  dissatisfaction  with  the  Emperor's  "  personal 
regime"  had  come  to  a  climax  only  twenty  years  later, 
when  a  rather  unimportant  incident  aroused  public 
opinion  to  such  an  extent  that  the  Reichstag  made  the 
person  of  the  Emperor  the  object  of  an  open  and  pro- 
longed discussion  in  which  hardly  a  voice  was  heard  in 
his  defence,  an  unheard-of  procedure  hi  German  his- 
tory, but  not  failing  of  the  desired  effect. 

Indeed,  parliament  was  the  mouthpiece  of  public 
opinion,  and  public  opinion  has  become  powerful 
enough  to  command  the  attention  of  the  government, 
even  though  it  has  a  majority  in  parliament  to  do  its 


XLVII  THE  REIGN  OF  WILLIAM  II  515 

bidding.  Several  unpopular  measures  of  a  reactionary 
character  have  been  withdrawn  in  recent  years,  though 
their  legislative  enactment  was  assured.  In  turn,  the 
government  found  a  popular  majority  in  its  favor  when- 
ever the  Reichstag  was  dissolved.  Thus  it  seems,  after 
all,  from  other  forms  of  constitutional  government,  the 
ultimate  power  rests  with  the  people. 

There  are  many  points,  however,  in  the  Emperor's 
favor,  and  though  the  people  have  found  it  necessary 
to  censure  him,  they  recognize  his  great  merits.  It  is 
largely  due  to  him  that  the  German  merchant  marine 
and  shipbuilding  industry  has  reached  the  place  it 
holds  to-day.  He  refused  to  renew  the  unjust  laws  for 
the  suppression  of  Socialism;  military  service  was 
reduced  from  three  to  two  years ;  and  there  are  other 
measures  to  his  credit.  With  all  his  romantic  ideas  as 
to  the  divine  mission  of  the  king,  he  is  a  truly  modern 
ruler  and  is  sensitive  to  the  new  forces  of  the  tunes. 

Political  party  life  is  taken  so  much  more  seriously 
in  Germany  than  elsewhere  because  it  is  based  on  fun- 
damental difference  of  the  Weltanschauung,  of  religious 
opinion.  That  is  why  the  question  of  the  secular, 
denominational,  or  interdenominational  character  of  the 
public  schools  is  the  subject  of  endless  political  strife. 

What  keeps  the  conservative  forces,  the  old  agrarian 
aristocracy,  the  military  nobility,  and  the  bureaucratic 
hierarchy  in  power  is,  outside  of  the  historical  tradi- 
tions, the  necessity  for  the  government  to  secure  the 
passage  of  the  military  and  naval  budget.  The  Liberals 
have  not  always  been  reliable  in  this  respect;  the 
Centrist  party  has  made  its  consent  always  an  object 
of  dickering,  while  the  Social  Democrats  refuse  to  vote 
the  budget  altogether.  The  old  Conservatives  may  be 
considered,  more  or  less,  as  the  party  of  Orthodox 


516  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

Protestantism,  while  the  so-called  Free  Conservatives 
concentrate  their  strength  in  upholding  the  central 
power  of  the  state.  The  Liberals  may  be  called  the 
representatives  of  a  more  liberal  and  rationalistic 
Christianity,  including  adherents  of  the  active  volun- 
tarism of  Eucken,  of  views  similar  to  those  of  President 
Eliot,  and  of  a  more  radical  pantheism  or  monism; 
while  the  Centrist  party,  comprising  all  shades  of 
political  creeds,  represents  ultramontane  Catholicism. 
Of  course,  allowance  must  be  made  for  exceptions  and 
transitions.  As  the  parties  are  not  simply  organiza- 
tions for  political  expediency,  it  is  easily  understood 
that  a  serious  difference  of  opinion  will  often  cause  a 
split  in  the  party,  so  that,  instead  of  four  great  parties 
just  described,  there  are  a  number  of  factions  or  groups. 
Under  these  conditions  parliamentary  government  in 
the  sense  of  party  government  is  impossible.  But 
even  though  it  was  possible,  it  is  doubtful  whether  the 
Germans  would  want  it.  They  expect  their  adminis- 
tration to  stand  above  the  parties,  and  though  historical 
development  and  dynastic  interest  naturally  let  the 
government  incline  towards  certain  political  maxims 
and  affiliations,  it  generally  tries  to  maintain  the  equi- 
librium between  all  interests,  and,  in  consequence,  can 
give  complete  satisfaction  to  none,  for  all  have  to  make 
sacrifices.  Only  in  order  that  it  may  pass  legislation 
considered  to  be  in  the  interest  of  the  whole  nation,  the 
government  identifies  itself  with  combinations  of  differ- 
ent parties  —  with  the  exception  of  the  strongest  of  all 
in  popular  votes,  the  Socialists,  who,  at  the  election  of 
1906,  had  a  following  of  three  and  a  quarter  million 
voters.  They  claim  that  a  just  division  of  election 
districts  would  give  their  party  at  least  one  hundred 
and  forty  seats  in  the  Reichstag.  The  deficiency  of 


XLVII  THE  REIGN  OF  WILLIAM  II  517 

political  rights  in  many  of  the  state  constitutions  is 
naturally  a  cause  of  great  dissatisfaction  with  many. 
Ever  stronger  becomes  the  demand  for  a  modernization 
of  the  constitutions  and  a  just  distribution  of  election 
districts.  Some  states,  especially  in  the  South,  have 
already  reformed  their  suffrages. 

An  experiment  to  form  a  government  majority  of  the 
Conservative  and  Liberal  parties  against  the  Centrists 
and  Social  Democrats,  in  1907-1908,  proved  a  failure, 
and  ended  in  the  resignation  of  Chancellor  von  Buelow. 
Since  then  a  more  natural  coalition  has  been  formed  by 
the  Conservative  and  Centrist  parties ;  that  is,  by  the 
Protestant  and  Catholic  Conservatives.  This  gave  a 
renewed  ascendency  to  the  so-called  Prussian  concep- 
tion of  government  with  its  tendency  towards  bureau- 
cratic and  police  tutelage,  its  inclination  to  rely  on  the 
hereditary  nobility  and  militarism.  An  awakening  of 
the  liberal  element,  a  renewed  clamor  for  recognition  of 
the  political  rights  of  the  people,  an  inclination  towards 
a  temporary  combination  of  the  liberal  and  social 
democratic  forces  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  full 
political  rights,  and  a  democratization  of  the  adminis- 
tration is  the  result.  There  are  many  who  believe  that 
the  final  struggle  against  the  supremacy  of  the  reaction- 
ary powers  has  begun.  The  Reichstag  elected  1912 
shows  the  combined  Liberals  and  Socialists  slightly  in 
the  majority.  The  election  campaign  began  in  1910, 
and  had  from  the  start  a  very  passionate  character, 
with  the  destruction  of  the  preponderance  of  aristo- 
cratic, bureaucratic,  clerical,  and  police  influence  as  a 
dominant  issue.  But,  notwithstanding  the  well-known 
standpoint  of  the  Social  Democrats,  there  is  nothing  to 
indicate  a  strengthening  of  anti-monarchical  feeling. 

As  a  curiosity,  the  Grand  Duchies  of  Mecklenburg 


518  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

must  be  mentioned,  which  still  have  no  constitution  at 
all,  and  live  under  some  form  of  territorial  feudalism, 
while,  as  citizens  of  the  Empire,  they  enjoy  the  demo- 
cratic rights  of  universal  suffrage. 

While  there  is  no  party  government,  as  we  know  it  in 
England,  there  is  a  most  efficient  check  on  the  arbitrary 
use  of  governmental  power  hi  the  obligation  of  the 
Chancellor  and  his  secretaries,  and  the  cabinet  minis- 
ters or  their  representatives  to  appear  in  person  before 
the  popular  representatives,  answer  interpellations, 
and  give  information  on  all  expenditures  and  occurrences 
that  fall  in  their  department.  The  discussion  of  the 
annual  budget,  especially,  furnishes  the  opportunity  to 
give  an  account  before  the  whole  country  of  the  conduct 
of  all  departments  of  administration,  to  investigate  and 
set  to  right  irregularities  of  the  minutest  order,  and  to 
protect  the  poorest  against  administrative  arbitrariness. 
The  newspapers  print  stenographic  reports  of  all  ses- 
sions, and  every  German  has  an  opportunity  to  inform 
himself  how  his  nation  and  his  state  is  governed,  and 
to  have  any  grievance  attended  to.  This  makes  par- 
liamentary debates  in  Germany  often  appear  too  long 
drawn  out  and  trifling,  but  this  is  a  cheap  price  to  be 
paid  for  the  conduct  of  government  in  a  manner  that 
does  not  need  to  avoid  the  most  open  and  frank  expla- 
nations. 

The  body  of  the  bureaucracy  cannot  be  said  to  be 
free  from  modern  success  worship  and  byzantinism,  but 
it  still  maintains  its  integrity  and  enjoys  the  confidence 
of  the  people.  They  consider  then1  officials  the  best  in 
the  world,  but  do  not  fail  to  criticise  them  freely. 
They  complain  of  too  much  class-spirit,  of  a  certain 
favoritism  shown  to  the  extreme  royalist  and  militarist 
elements  in  Prussia,  and  especially  find  fault  with  the 


XLVII  THE  REIGN  OF  WILLIAM  II  519 

military  tone  frequently  heard  in  the  dealings,  not  of 
subaltern  officials  only,  with  the  public.  Recently, 
however,  they  show  a  decided  tendency  to  come  hi 
closer  touch  with  the  actual  life  of  the  people,  and 
technical  experts  begin  to  replace  the  ubiquitous  jurist. 

Observing  the  eminent  success  of  German  state, 
provincial,  and  municipal  administration,  in  meeting  the 
problems  of  public  welfare,  the  unsparing  criticism  of 
their  government  by  the  Germans  is  somewhat  surpris- 
ing. However,  it  would  be  unjust  to  attribute  the 
apparent  dissatisfaction  wholly  to  "German  invidious- 
ness"  ;  it  may,  at  the  same  tune,  be  taken  as  another 
demonstration  of  the  old  truth  that  material  prosperity 
and  external  power  are  not  sufficient  to  give  content- 
ment to  a  high-spirited,  self-respecting  people. 

While  the  struggle  for  more  democratic  methods  in 
politics  is  going  on,  a  new  party  alignment  on  entirely 
different  principles  of  division  seems  to  arise  out  of  the 
chaos  of  conflicting  economical  interests.  Heretofore 
already  certain  of  the  parties,  by  the  nature  of  their 
constituencies,  have  been  more  or  less  closely  allied  to 
special  economical  interests.  As  the  industrialization 
of  the  country  progressed,  the  extreme  Conservative 
party,  having  their  stronghold  in  the  landed  nobility 
of  the  East,  the  ancient  colonization  territory,  have 
identified  themselves  more  and  more  with  the  agrarian 
interests.  The  Farmers  Alliance  (Bund  der  Land- 
wirte),  an  association  for  the  protection  and  promotion 
of  agriculture,  forms  the  backbone  of  the  party  which  of 
late  is  most  frequently  designated  as  "the  Agrarians." 
While  these  represent  apparently  in  the  first  place  the 
great  landholders,  recent  movements  indicate  a  ten- 
dency of  separation  on  the  part  of  holders  of  small  farms 
whose  organization,  Peasants  Alliance  (Bauernbund) , 
inclines  towards  liberal  affiliations. 


520  HISTORY   OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION          CHAP. 

The  Social  Democratic  party  has  been,  from  the 
beginning,  the  party  of  the  industrial  laborers.  The 
labor  movement  in  Germany,  as  has  been  pointed  out, 
is  distinguished  from  that  of  other  countries  in  that  it 
started  with  the  organization  of  a  political  party.  But 
of  recent  years,  after  the  effects  of  the  special  legisla- 
tion against  socialism  had  passed  away,  trade-unionism 
is  in  the  ascendency  and  claims  ever-increasing  atten- 
tion hi  the  decisions  of  the  political  party.  The  Socialist 
or  Free  Unions  have  over  2,000,000  members  to-day. 
Besides  these  the  non-Socialist  laborers  have  been 
organized  in  the  so-called  Christian  or  National  Unions, 
which  claim  over  1,000,000  laborers.  While  their 
representatives  in  the  parliaments  are  affiliated  with 
the  more  conservative  parties,  experience  has  shown 
that  in  actual  labor  conflicts  they  side  mostly  with  their 
more  radical  brethren  of  the  Free  Unions.  So  do  like- 
wise the  so-called  Hirsch-Duncker  Unions  (100,000 
members),  allied  politically  to  the  Liberals.  There 
have  recently  been  added  by  special  efforts  of  capitalists 
a  number  of  unions  that  identify  themselves  with  their 
employers;  they  are  considered  as  scabs  by  the  other 
organizations,  and  called  "Yellow"  Unions.  In  1910 
Germany  had  all  together  2,400,000  Union  labor- 
ers. 

Besides  the  industrial  laborers  proper  there  are  strong 
organizations  of  the  technical,  commercial,  admin- 
istrative, and  other  employees  of  private  enterprises 
(Privatbeamte) ,  which,  though  of  recent  origin,  com- 
prised nearly  1,000,000  members  in  December,  1906. 
All  organizations  propose  to  take  an  active  part  in 
political  Me,  —  if  not  trying  to  exercise  an  exclusive 
control  over  one  distinct  party,  as  the  Free  Unions 
have  done,  still  hoping  to  influence  legislation  through 


XLVII  THE  REIGN  OF  WILLIAM  II  521 

candidates  pledged  to  champion  their  interests  hi  return 
for  their  votes. 

The  latest  organization,  which,  founded  in  1908,  has 
reached  an  unprecedented  growth,  is  the  Hansabund. 
It  was  planned  as  a  counterweight  against  the  pre- 
dominant influence  of  the  Farmers  Alliance,  comprising 
the  representatives  of  commerce  and  industry,  not  only 
of  the  great  capitalist  concerns,  but  also  the  middle 
class,  the  small  tradespeople  and  independent  craftsmen 
(Handwerker),  employers  as  well  as  employees.  If  in- 
dications are  not  deceiving,  their  presence  will  make 
itself  distinctly  felt  in  politics  and  will  help  to  empha- 
size social-economical  opinions  in  the  distinction  of 
political  parties.  It  is  not  at  all  impossible  that  in  time 
we  shall  have  to  deal  with  industrial,  agrarian  parties, 
etc.,  instead  of  Conservatives  and  Liberals. 

In  spite  of  all  conflicts,  employers  and  employees 
have,  on  the  whole,  a  fair  understanding  for  the  com- 
munity of  then1  interests  —  " under  existing  conditions," 
as  the  socialists  would  add.  Disastrous  strikes  are 
not  frequent,  and  deeds  of  violence,  though  not  entirely 
absent,  are  not  the  rule.  What  is  called  the  "dry 
wage  movement,"  that  is,  an  improvement  of  the 
laborer's  conditions  by  negotiations  without  resort 
to  strikes,  proves  more  successful  from  year  to  year. 
The  right  of  strike  and  boycott  is  recognized  by  the 
highest  court  of  the  Empire.  Many  economists  see  in 
collective  bargaining,  the  wage  tariff  agreement,  in  a 
kind  of  constitutional  arrangement  of  the  relations 
between  employer  and  employed,  the  approaching  solu- 
tion of  the  social  question.  As  the  first,  practically  the 
whole  printers'  trade  was  united  in  such  an  agreement, 
which,  renewed  for  three  periods  of  five  years  each,  has 
secured  an  undisturbed  peace  in  that  trade  for  fifteen 


522  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN   CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

years.  The  Free  Unions  especially  favor  these  tariff 
agreements,  which  are  increasing  at  the  rate  of  nearly 
two  thousand  per  year,  even  in  such  branches  as  were 
formerly  declared  absolutely  unfit  for  them. 

In  the  world  of  literature  and  art  and  in  the  concep- 
tion of  life  the  apparent  exhaustion,  the  superficiality 
and  materialistic  tendency  during  the  Bismarckian 
Era,  characterized  in  the  last  chapter,  met  with  vigorous 
opposition  as  soon  as  the  first  generation,  grown  up  in 
the  young  Empire,  began  to  feel  as  men,  unfortunately 
in  many  cases  before  they  were  really  entitled  to  do  so, 
and  the  new  Storm  and  Stress  period,  which  set  in 
between  1880  and  1890,  exhibits  a  decidedly  immature 
character.  Not  strong  enough  to  stand  by  themselves, 
too  ignorant  to  recognize  the  hidden  current  of  healthy 
German  literature,  the  young  authors  turned  to  for- 
eign models.  Zola,  Dostojewsky,  Ibsen,  were  the 
prophets  of  the  new  school,  and  while,  though  uncon- 
sciously, they  were  right  in  their  feeling  that  a  reawak- 
ening was  necessary,  they  made  of  themselves  at  first 
a  rather  disgusting  spectacle,  affecting  a  •  decadence 
which  in  reality  was  not  their  own.  They  were  not 
able  to  rid  themselves  so  easily  from  unhealthy  influ- 
ences at  home  and  were  attracted  by  the  assumption 
of  artistic  form  abroad.  Their  naturalism  became 
vulgarity;  in  their  antagonism  against  the  hollowness 
of  fashionable  sham  literature,  they  turned  against  all 
idealistic  art  as  untrue,  and  the  demand  for  "  truth,  not 
beauty,"  became  the  new  slogan.  The  social  question 
was  justly  recognized  by  them  as  the  leading  interest 
of  the  times,  but  they  only  saw  and  reproduced  the 
dark  side  of  it.  It  was  a  period  of  wild  experimenta- 
tion with  all  theories  of  art,  of  psychology,  and  so  forth 
that  had  arisen  at  any  place  and  at  any  time. 


XLVII  THE   REIGN  OF  WILLIAM  II  523 

The  juvenile  moderns  were  looking  for  a  national 
prophet  when,  about  1890,  Friedrich  Nietzsche  was 
first  introduced  to  a  greater  public  by  the  Danish  litera- 
teur  George  Brandes.  His  criticism  of  the  "  culture 
Philistines,"  his  theory  of  the  " superman,"  of  amoral- 
ism, were  the  very  food  for  which  their  rebellious 
souls  had  been  starving.  The  artistic  and  mystical 
form  in  which  the  philosopher's  teachings  were  clothed 
increased  their  attractiveness,  but  most  of  all,  Nietz- 
sche's personality,  his  life,  which  "  consumed  itself 
in  the  flame"  of  his  own  genius.  It  is  this  unity  of  his 
personality  with  his  work  which  represents  his  real 
and  lasting  value  for  the  generation  of  young  Germans 
that  followed  him  as  their  master.  For  a  tune  the 
catch  phrases,  the  "superman,"  who  stands  "beyond 
good  and  bad,"  and  numerous  others,  played  great 
havoc  with  immature,  weak-brained  people  of  brutal, 
uncontrolled  instincts,  but,  on  the  whole,  his  influence 
has  been  a  wholesome  one,  and  the  more  he  retreats 
with  advancing  years,  the  more  the  greatness  in  his 
personality  and  the  lasting  contributions  of  his  phi- 
losophy are  recognized  and  appreciated.  His  demand 
for  a  "revaluation  of  all  values"  certainly  expresses 
the  needs  of  our  times  and  begins  to  bear  fruit.  With 
Nietzsche  a  new  interest  in  idealistic  philosophy  sets  in. 

None  of  his  admirers  of  the  "Youngest  Germany"  has 
reached  the  goal  of  a  new  great  literature.  After  many 
promising  beginnings  their  most  talented  authors  have 
disappointed  us,  their  growth  has  ceased  before  they 
succeeded  in  finding  the  highest,  or  even  a  satisfactory, 
expression  of  the  emotions  of  this  age,  the  poetical 
solution  of  its  problems.  Still,  Germany  owes  to  them, 
after  they  had  outgrown  their  infantile  disease  of  exag- 
gerated naturalism,  the  return  to  honest,  truthful 


524  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

literary  production.  In  lyric  poetry,  and  especially 
prose  fiction,  Germany  brings  forth  most  meritorious 
work,  firmly  planted  in  the  life  of  the  people  and  out- 
ranked by  no  other  nation. 

More  fortunate  than  literature  were  the  plastic  arts. 
Here  we  find  the  same  immature  beginnings,  the  same 
leaning  on  foreign  models.  But  the  painters  really 
were  benefited  by  the  advanced  technique  of  their 
French  teachers,  although  the  same  achievements  had 
been  reached  by  their  older  countrymen,  unbeknown 
to  them.  Here  we  see  growth,  here  we  see  more  of  a 
successful  struggle  with  the  problems  of  the  day.  A 
few  of  the  old  school  have  lived  long  enough  to  secure, 
after  all,  an  uninterrupted  healthy  tradition.  Very 
creditable  work  has  been  done  by  many  of  the  younger 
artists,  a  most  interesting  life  is  stirring  the  artistic 
world,  hundreds  of  brains  are  busy,  hundreds  of  eyes 
and  hands,  to  solve  new  problems.  There  is  apparently 
nothing  in  the  universe  of  mind  and  matter  that  has 
not  something  to  tell  to  some  German  artist,  a  message 
he  tries  to  express  in  line  and  color,  in  light  and  shade. 
New  techniques  are  tried,  old  ones  resuscitated  to  new 
life.  Not  a  few  find  one  mode  of  artistic  expression 
insufficient ;  they  paint  and  etch,  engrave  in  copper  and 
draw  with  pen  and  ink,  or  form  in  stone  and  bronze. 
Sculpture  and  architecture  have  come  nearest  to  the 
creation  of  a  distinct  national  style  of  art.  Such  a 
style,  however,  seems  to  have  been  produced  by  Indus- 
trial Art,  as  was  revealed  to  the  world  by  the  Brussels 
Exhibition,  1910,  reluctantly  appreciated  even  by 
French  critics. 

But  modern  idealists,  who  want  to  see  a  truly  national 
culture  centred  in  art,  are  at  work  to  give  an  artistic 
aspect  to  the  daily  life  even  of  the  humblest  children 


XLVII  THE  REIGN  OF  WILLIAM  II  325 

of  the  nation.  Whatever  has  come  down  from  past 
times  of  artistic  products,  in  house  and  field,  of  build- 
ings, of  fine  scenic  effects  in  cities  and  villages,  of 
picturesque  ruins,  of  beautiful  scenery,  even  a  single 
tree,  which  are  of  interest  by  their  appearance  or  some 
romantic  story,  is  carefully  preserved.  The  law  begins 
to  recognize  the  artistic  milieu  as  a  public  asset,  which 
no  individual  may  destroy  by  tasteless  structures. 
Provincial  costumes  and  dialects  are  fostered.  Beauty 
has  entered  the  workshop  and  the  factory,  and  the 
tasteful  products  of  modern  machines  vie  with  fine 
reproductions  at  low  cost  of  older  masterpieces. 

It  has  been  said  above  that  Nietzsche  came  at  a  time 
when  speculative  philosophy,  so  long  neglected,  began 
to  attract  renewed  attention.  The  mechanical  theory 
of  the  world,  taught  by  materialism,  failed  to  give  lasting 
satisfaction ;  the  natural  sciences  had  proved  themselves 
to  be  unable  to  answer  the  last  questions  of  existence. 
Ernst  Hackel,  the  successor  of  Vogt,  Moleschott,  and 
Biichner  in  popular  favor,  whom  Charles  Darwin  called 
the  greatest  exponent  of  his  theory,  protests  against 
being  called  a  materialist  and  claims  kinship  to  the 
pantheism  of  Spinoza  and  Goethe.  Many  philosophi- 
cal systems  have  adherents  amongst  the  intellectual 
classes,  especially  such  as  make  the  will  their  funda- 
mental principle.  Of  all  modern  philosophers  Eucken 
seems  to  be  in  greatest  favor  with  the  cultured  classes 
outside  of  strict  Christianity.  Mysticism  again  has 
found  its  place  in  German  philosophy  and  has  entered 
into  the  theories  of  some  of  the  most  radical  thinkers. 
Even  German  Catholicism  begins  to  respond  to  the 
modern  spirit.  Also  here  in  science  and  literature, 
within  the  limits  set  by  dogmatism,  a  healthy  activity 
is  displayed  and  shows  creditable  results,  too  little 
noticed,  it  seems,  by  their  non-Catholic  countrymen. 


52&  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

How  little  Germany  is  willing  to  rest  contented  with 
its  achievements  may  be  seen  by  the  continuous  expan- 
sion of  its  educational  facilities.  To  her  large  system 
of  technical  and  professional  schools  the  Commercial 
University  was  added  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  an  institution  coming  fully  up  to  its  name  in 
its  requirements  and  accomplishments.  Prussia  has 
lead  the  way  in  a  modern  organization  of  the  higher 
education  of  girls,  still  in  its  first  period  of  practical 
test.  Since  1908  all  German  universities  admit  women 
on  equal  terms  with  men,  counting  1911  nearly  three 
thousand  female  students.  Special  sociological  and 
economical  courses  are  held  for  people  standing  in 
active  life  for  a  long  time  as  government  officials, 
judges,  teachers,  etc.  The  first  municipal  university 
will  be  opened  in  the  near  future  in  Frankfort-on-the- 
Main.  Continuation  schools  provide  for  the  boys  and 
girls  after  dismissal  from  the  common  school,  and  their 
employers  are  legally  held  to  give  them  leave  to  attend 
them  in  daytime,  as  night  schools  for  young  people 
after  a  day's  work  do  not  meet  with  approval.  An 
academy  for  the  study  of  Municipal  Administration  in 
Dtisseldorf  is  the  latest  addition  to  the  educational 
system. 

It  would  be  wrong  to  fail  in  this  connection  to  call 
attention  to  the  beneficent  influence  of  the  socialist 
movement  on  the  education  of  the  working  classes. 
Based  on  the  economical  conception  of  history,  it  must, 
of  course,  be  one-sided  from  the  start.  But,  let  alone 
that  the  arousing  of  the  masses  out  of  their  indolent 
lethargy  is  in  itself  a  great  accomplishment  in  the 
service  of  progress,  the  leaders  have  by  no  means 
confined  themselves  to  expounding  economical  and 
political  theories,  but  have  succeeded  in  awakening  the 


XLVII  THE   REIGN  OF  WILLIAM  II  527 

interest  of  the  people  in  higher  culture  as  it  manifests 
itself  in  science,  literature,  and  art.  Compared  to  the 
shallow  pursuits  of  many  of  their  despisers,  the  youthful 
enthusiasm  of  numerous  laborers  for  everything  beau- 
tiful, true,  and  noble,  for  any  new  and  great  achieve- 
ment, gives  one  a  refreshing  reassurance  for  the  future. 
It  is  one  of  the  stupidities  of  the  bureaucratic  govern- 
ment, out  of  fear  of  their  political  theories,  to  place,  by 
police  regulations,  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  socialist 
endeavors  to  give  to  the  laboring  youths,  after  school 
age,  a  higher  standard  of  life ;  the  results  of  their  experi- 
ments with  anti-socialist  legislation  in  Bismarck's 
times  ought  to  have  taught  the  authorities  the  futility 
of  similar  methods. 

The  end  of  the  nineteenth  century  seems  to  open  a 
very  hopeful  outlook  for  Germany.  It  is  true  all  the 
great  centrifugal  forces  that  threaten  to  rend  Germany 
asunder  are  still  at  work.  Northern  sober  pedantry  and 
cool  reasoning  against  the  emotional  nature  of  the  easy- 
going South;  Catholicism  against  Protestantism;  or- 
thodoxy against  liberalism,  rationalism,  and  disbelief; 
the  classes  against  the  masses ;  reaction  and  habit 
against  progress  in  politics,  in  art,  in  social  questions; 
capitalistic  concentration  against  the  individualist  of 
the  middle  class  and  the  laborer  who  claims  his  own ; 
agriculture  against  industry  and  commerce;  but,  in 
spite  of  all  this,  the  spirit  of  national  unity,  the  common 
interest,  is  strong  enough  to  hold  all  the  contrasting 
elements  together.  The  same  spirit,  at  the  bottom, 
inspires  them  all ;  the  great  task  of  readjusting  the  inner 
man  to  the  new  external  conditions  is  felt  alike  by  every 
thinking  German  ;  more  and  more  they  find  themselves 
united  in  positive  production,  while  science  begins  to 
gather  the  fruit  of  overlong  specialization,  and,  side 


528  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

by  side  with  art,  seems  to  promise  an  harmonious, 
self-centred  national  culture,  based  on  a  unified  view  of 
the  world. 

A  few  words  hi  conclusion  as  to  German  idealism ! 
According  to  some  modern  writers  it  is  a  thing  of  the 
past.  It  is  really  touching  to  read  the  expressions  - 
usually  in  the  French  or  English  language  —  of  deepest 
sorrow  at  the  sad  change  of  the  Germans  since  they 
have  ceased  to  be  a  " nation  of  poets  and  thinkers," 
and  have  taken  a  hand  in  the  world's  affairs  as  men  of 
purposeful  and  successful  action.  But  a  cool  observer 
will  concede  that  ideal  interests  still  have  a  large  part 
in  German  life,  in  the  daily  work  of  the  German  people. 
Idealism  cannot  be  wanting  in  a  nation  that  bases  its 
whole  activity,  so  to  speak,  on  the  results  of  scientific 
research ;  it  shows  its  influence  even  in  the  most  unpre- 
tentious trades.  Idealism  is  apparent  in  the  energetic 
manifestation  of  the  social  conscience,  the  striving  after 
social  justice.  It  is  effective  hi  that  longing  for  the 
inner  unification  of  the  nation.  It  is  true,  the  class 
controversies  of  modern  development  have  emphasized 
the  bars  between  the  social  strata,  but  earnest  efforts 
are  made  to  remove  these  bars,  not  only  by  those 
attempts  at  the  solution  of  the  social  question,  the 
establishment  of  social  peace,  but  by  a  more  human 
mutual  approach  of  the  opponents. 

It  is  in  the  service  of  this  inner  national  unity,  of  a 
strengthened  national  consciousness,  that  we  see  those 
interests  arrayed  which  German  idealism  of  the  old  type 
considered  always  as  the  highest;  to  wit,  the  struggle 
for  a  theory  of  life  and  the  universe,  the  struggle  for  a 
new  culture.  There  are  increasing  signs  that  this 
idealism,  which  in  the  pressure  of  new  tasks,  set  by 
new  conditions,  certainly  did  not  overshadow  all 


XLVII  THE  REIGN  OF  WILLIAM  II  529 

national  life  as  it  did  when  it  opened  almost  the  only 
outlet  to  a  higher  intellectuality,  will  again  take  a 
prominent  part  in  the  development  of  the  German 
people.  But  there  is  a  difference  between  the  idealism 
of  the  nineteenth  century  and  that  of  the  twentieth : 
while  the  former  in  its  postulate  of  pure  humanity  had 
put  up  an  abstraction  which  took  no  account  whatever 
of  the  actualities  of  life,  modern  German  idealism  has 
learnt  that,  no  matter  how  lofty  your  aims  are,  you  can 
reach  them  only  if  you  first  fill  your  position  hi  the  sur- 
roundings and  under  the  conditions  in  which  nature 
has  placed  you.  While  it  still  may  be  the  abstraction 
of  the  perfect  man  which  is  the  aim  of  the  modern 
German  idealist,  he  sees  the  only  way  of  reaching  this 
ideal  by  the  perfection  of  the  German  man  so  that  he 
can  fulfil  his  mission  for  the  best  of  mankind.  To 
discover  and  develop  the  germs  for  further  evolution 
that  are  born  with  him  and  improved  by  the  oppor- 
tunities offered  to  him  by  his  surroundings,  is  the 
immediate  task  before  him. 

Most  vividly  he  feels  the  inadequateness  of  the 
answers  given  by  inherited  culture  to  the  most  im- 
portant questions;  he  longs  for  the  visible  expression 
of  the  modern  soul,  for  a  saviour  out  of  its  harrow- 
ing struggles.  To  find  a  national  form  for  this  ex- 
pression is  his  most  ardent  desire;  that  is  what  he 
means  by  national  culture.  From  this  point  of  view 
the  movement  in  literature  and  art  of  the  last  twenty 
years  is  to  be  judged ;  it  is  one  great  struggle  for  inner 
harmony  in  visible  expression. 

And  is  not  all  the  world  held  by  the  same  expectation 

of  something  great  to  come?     While  a  new  spiritual 

world  is  slowly  forming,  who  is  to  be  its  prophet,  its 

interpreter  ?     Will  he  be  a  great  philosopher,  dramatist, 

2 11 


530  HISTORY  OF  GERMAN  CIVILIZATION         CHAP. 

poet,  artist?  a  man  of  action?  Whenever  such 
restiveness  has  agitated  the  soul  of  the  people  in  times 
past,  the  great  man  has  been  forthcoming.  If  it  be  a 
German,  will  not  his  genius  show  relationship  to  Luther, 
to  Schiller,  to  Beethoven,  rather  than  to  Bach,  Kant, 
or  Goethe  ?  —  or  will  he  unite  both  sides  of  the  German 
character  ? 

But  if  it  be  asked  what  are  the  high  ideals  of  the 
German  people  to-day,  I  should  say :  those  of  all  noble 
men  —  Truth,  Justice,  Beauty.  The  search  for  Truth 
should  reveal  to  him  the  deepest  mysteries  of  existence ; 
his  industrious  search  is  rewarded  by  the  mastery  of 
helpful  natural  forces.  Justice,  as  social  justice,  should 
secure  for  him  and  for  his  people  the  rights  due  to  them ; 
but  it  demands  at  the  same  time  of  everybody  a  con- 
sciousness of  responsibility  towards  society,  of  the  duty 
to  fill  one's  place  in  the  nation  and  in  the  world ;  it 
demands  equal  opportunities  for  all  to  enjoy  the  good 
things  of  this  life,  a  share  in  modern  achievements  for 
everybody.  Beauty  should  give  expression  in  graceful 
external  appearance  to  the  soul's  innermost  experience, 
representing  the  unity  of  all  life.  To  realize  all  this 
in  his  personality  and  in  his  people  is  the  purpose  of 
political  and  social  organization,  inner  and  outer 
freedom  are  its  foundations,  conditions  of  being  for 
which  he  strives  with  his  whole  being,  with  his  life. 
This  is  the  meaning  of  his  will  for  power :  safety  from 
interference  with  his  individual  and  national  develop- 
ment. History  has  taught  the  Germans  to  trust  in 
their  invincibility  when  they  are  united  in  the  defence 
of  their  rights.  By  force  of  arms  the  progress  of  Ger- 
many in  the  arts  of  peace  may  perhaps  be  retarded,  but 
never  stopped.  Only  one  thing  is  left  to  the  nations 
that  do  not  want  to  be  left  behind  in  the  peaceful  rivalry 


XLVII  THE  REIGN  OF  WILLIAM  II  531 

of  human  progress;  that  is,  to  become  the  equals  of 
Germany  in  untiring  industry,  in  scientific  thoroughness, 
in  sense  of  duty,  in  patient  persistence,  hi  intelligent, 
voluntary  submission  to  organization. 

The  German  himself,  however,  must  take  care  that 
he  forever  remain  conscious  of  his  ideals,  and  remember 
that  wherever  the  pernicious  consequences  of  acquired 
riches  and  power,  the  ruin  of  so  many  noble  nations, 
become  visible,  —  and  we  know  that  they  are  at  work, 
-the  first  symptoms  of  decadence  must  be  pitilessly 
eradicated. 


INDEX 


Aachen,  194. 

Absolutism,  318-326,  347,  348,  382, 
455. 

Accent,  31,  32. 

Adalbert,  St.,  172. 

Adolf  of  Holstein,  171. 

JSneas  Sylvius,  see  Pius  II. 

sEtius,  93. 

Africa,  82. 

Agrarians,  see  Conservatives. 

Agriculture,  28,  42,  126,  157, 158,  159, 
161,  162,  293,  511. 

Aix  la  Chapelle,  see  Aachen. 

Aix  en  Provence,  75. 

Alamans,  Alemans,  86,  91,  103,  325. 

Alaric,  82,  93,  107. 

Albertus  Magnus,  232. 

Albrecht  of  Mainz,  248. 

Aleander,  250. 

Alembert,  d',  388. 

Alexandria,  5,  130. 

Alliteration,  31. 

.47pwe  type  of  man,  24,  26. 

Alps,  143  ;  see  also  Swiss,  Tyrol. 

Alsace,  81,  122. 

Alsace-Lorraine,  454,  482. 

Alt-Breisach,  167. 

America,  43,  53,  55,  68,  84,  113,  134, 
173,  201,  224,  254,  280,  288, 
289,  302,  321,  323,  340,  347, 
348,  365,  369,  385,  399,  406, 
418,  434,  438,  451, 456, 463, 486, 
504,  516. 

Anabaptists,  280. 

Angles,  92. 

Anglo-Saxon,  -a,  6,  46,  86,  109,  331. 

Anthropology,  13,  14,  15,  21. 

Anti-Semitism,  see  Jews. 

Antwerp,  194. 

Arab,  -ic,  -a,  144,  202,  289. 

Arausio,  74,  78. 

Arbogast,  93. 

Archaeology,  13,  14,  15,  21. 

Architecture,  20,  168,  202-205,  247. 

Arianism,  86. 

Ariovistus,  79-81,  93. 

Aristocracy,  see  Nobility. 


Aristotle,  243,  403. 

Arminius,  78,  93. 

Arms,  40,  76,  77,  320. 

Arndt,  E.  M.,  452,  455. 

Arnulfings,  see  Kar lings. 

Art,  27,  32,  43,  44,  67,  71,  168,  197, 
200-205,  233,  273,  283,  293,  294, 
330,  331,  401,  402,  403,  412,  426, 
427,  434,  481,  494,  503,  504,  505, 
612,  614,  525. 

industrial,   67,  200-202,  219,  272, 
273,  293,  524. 

Aryan,  see  Indo-European. 

Asceticism,  127,  128,  142. 

Asia,  -tic,  16,  20,  25,  26,  176. 

Athens,  82. 

Attila,  93,  95. 

Augsburg,  194,  278,  280,  303. 
Convention,  280,  282. 

Ausonius,  38. 

Austria,  58,  171,  249,  283,  291,  349, 

361,  381,  396,  435,  451,  455,  463, 
465, 466,  472, 473, 477, 478, 486. 

Avarians,  176. 

Babylon,  5,  20. 

Babylonians,  16,  17. 

Bach,  J.  S.,  314,  315. 

Bacon,  244,  380,  440. 

Baden,  470. 

Baireuth,  506. 

Baltic  plain,  shores,  sea,  25,  173,  192, 

193,  290. 

provinces,  192,  287,  435. 
Bolts,  see  Letto-Lithuanians. 
Bamberg,  204. 

Banking,  182,  209,  210,  280. 
Barbarossa,  see  Frederick  I,  Emperor. 
Barmen,  395. 
Basel,  194. 
Bastarni  (-ae),  73. 
Bavaria,  -ns,  38,  79,  91,  103,  311,  349, 

362,  482. 
Bayle,  345. 
Bebel,  484. 
Becker,  J.,  353. 
Becker,  N.,  468. 


533 


534 


INDEX 


Beethoven,  316,  317,  421,  425,  506. 
Behaim,  Martin,  193. 
Belgce,  80. 
Benedict,   St.,  Order  of,   see  Monas- 
teries. 

Beowulf,  6,  40. 

Berlin,  170,  303,  391,  395,  427,  468, 
503. 

Bern,  194. 

Bernburg  type,  20. 

Bernhard  of  Clairvaux,  146. 

Bernward  of  Hildesheim,  197. 

Berthold  of  Regensburg,  244. 

Bismarck,  58,  134,  164,  421,  448,  472, 
474,  475,  476,  477,  478,  480,  481, 
485,  488,  489,  498,  500,  511,  513, 
514,  522,  527. 

Bissula,  38. 

Black  Forest,  180. 

Black  Sea,  28,  49,  73. 

Blackstone,  55. 

Blood  feud,  63,  64,  65. 

Bock,  353. 

Bocklin,  505. 

Bodin,  Jean,  276. 

Boehm,  Jacob,  310,  347. 

Bohemia,  79,  172,  303. 

Boii,  79. 

Boiorix,  76. 

Bologna,  227. 

Boniface,  St.,  86,  125,  134. 

Boniface  VIII,  139. 

Borgia,  house  of,  282. 

Borkum,  165. 

Borne,  458,  465. 

Boundaries,  35,  173. 

Bouvines,  battle,  125,  286. 

Brabant,  273. 

Brandenburg,  276,  286, 350 ;  see  Prus- 
sia. 

Brandes,  623. 

Braun,  Canon,  362. 

Braunschweig,  194,  395. 

Bremen,  194,  219,  420. 

Breslau,  194,  267. 

Brethren  of  Common  Life,  226,  258. 

Britain,  see  England. 

Bronze  Age,  20,  28. 

Bruges,  see  Brugge. 

Brugge,  194. 

Brunhild,  101. 

.Brwno  of  Toul,  138. 

Brussels,  524. 

Bryce,  James,  286. 

Buchner,  L.,  495. 


Buergi,  352. 

Building,  41,    168,   219;    see 


Billow,  v.,  517. 

Bundestag,  see  Reichstag. 

Bundschuh,  39. 

Bunsen,  507. 

Bureaucracy,  see  Officials. 

Burggraf,  J.,  420. 

Burgundian,  -s,  36,  83,  103,  150,  218, 

277. 

Swr/be,  405. 

Burschenschaft,  459,  460. 
Buttmann,  453. 
Byrhtnoth,  58. 
Byzantium,  see  Constantinople. 

Caesar,  8,  35,  56,  61,  73,  79-82,  91. 

<7aefe,  339. 

Caglioslro,  335,  401. 

Calvin,  259. 

Calvinism,  272,  345. 

Cambrai,  100. 

Camerarius,  353. 

Canossa,  133,  134,  184,  187,  488. 

Capital,  -ism,  211,  228,  240,  279,  285, 
291,  292,  520,  521,  522. 

Carlisle,  405. 

Carolingians,  see  Karlings. 

Carolus,  Johannes,  355. 

Carstens,  426. 

Cartesianism,  see  Descartes. 

Cassiodorus,  56. 

Cashes,  175,  176. 

Catalaunian  Fields,  94. 

Catholicism,  Roman,  see  Catholics. 
Deutsch-Katholiken,  397,  497. 
Old,  497. 

Catholics,  Cath.  Church,  37,  86,  105, 
113,  118,  120,  125,  134,  145,  158, 
210,  231,  232,  233,  238-241,  245, 
247,  276,  280,  281,  282,  309,  335, 
362,  397,  429,  438,  456,  457,  467, 
468,  485-488,  496,  497,  525. 

Celt,  -ic,  see  Kelt. 

Centre,  Centrists,  see  Catholics,  Politi- 
cal Parties. 

Chamberlain,  Houston  Stewart,  14, 
94,  239. 

Character,  6,  29,  32,  33,  34,  41,46, 
47,  48,  50,  53,  57,  58,  61,  62,  63, 
75,  78,  79,  81,  83,  92,  101,  108, 
128,  145,  148,  149,  158,  160,  164, 
166,  174,  195,  206,  213,  214,  216, 
221-223,  232,  237,  247,  253,  288, 


INDEX 


535 


289,  302,  303,  304,  305,  315, 316, 
324,  325,  326,  333,  335,  337,  341, 
374,  377,  379,  381,  389,  412,  413, 
417,  418,  429,  432,  436,  443,  446, 
453,  457,  458,  463,  466,  469,  473, 
478,  480,  481,  491,  493,  507,  511, 
513,  518,  519,  530,  531. 

Chararich,  100. 

Charity,  see  Social  Welfare. 

Charles  the  Bald,  239. 

Charles  the  Great,  86,  103,  104,  108, 
129,  130,  134,  181,  183,  185, 
186,  193,  196,  218,  235,  239,  311. 

Charles  the  Hammer,  see  Karl  Martell. 

Charles  IV,  Emperor,  151. 

Charles  VII,  of  France,  286,  320. 

Charles  VIII,  of  France,  286. 

Charles  X,  Emperor,  250,  276,  286, 
319. 

Cherusks,  40. 

Childerich,  101. 

Chilperich,  88,  101. 

Chivalry,  142-154,  185,  230. 

Chloderic,  100. 

Chlodowech,  100,  101,  114,  181,  311. 

Chlodowiecky,  426. 

Christianity,  9,43,  62,  63,  85-90,  200, 
210, 233, 238,  239,  240,  241,  309, 
368,  496,  497,  525. 

Church,  see  Catholics,  Protestants. 

Church  and  State,  103,  104,  105,  123, 
126,  133-140,  467,  486-488,  494, 
497. 

Cimbri,  see  Kirribers. 

Cistercians,  171. 

Cities,  93,  175-178,  191-213,  223,  224, 
230,  245,  281,  296,  444. 

Civilization,  3-7,  84,   103,   106,   145, 
161,  164,  236,  246,  271,  406,  416, 
419. 
history  of,  4-7. 

Crosses,  social,  54,  56,  122,  143,  144, 

160,  172,  211,  212,  227,  232,  285, 

288,  297,  298,  324,  326,  363,  385, 

386,  434,  444,  446,  519-522. 

organizations  by,  519, 520,  521, 522. 

Classicism,  130,  390,  415,  437,  443, 
455 ;  see  Humanism. 

Claudius,  343. 

Clausewitz,  von,  412. 

Climate,  37. 

Clovis,  see  Chlodowech. 

Cluny,  137. 

Coin,  coinage,  see  Money. 

Colbert,  349,  384. 


Coleridge,  405. 

Collective  Bargaining,  see  Labor. 
Cologne,  see  Kdln. 
Columba,  125. 
Columbia  College,  456. 
Columbus,  236. 
Comenius,  348. 
Comitatus,  see  Retinue. 
Commerce,  48,  49,  191-193,  209-211, 
273,  280,  285,  290,  291,  292,  385, 
455,494,  511,  515. 
Commercial  Routes,  28,  49,  193,  272, 

280,  285,  290. 

Conservatives,  515,  516,  519 ;   see  Po- 
litical Parties. 
Constant,  Benj.,  405. 
Constantine,  85,  92. 
Constantinople,  85,  104,  105,  130,  141, 

210. 

Copenhagen  museum,  30. 
Copernicus,  237,  238,  243,  246,  252, 

253,  342,  352. 
Cornelius,  504. 
Costume,  39,  217,  218,  219,  328,  329, 

330,  365,  399,  425. 
Gotta,  365. 

Council,  of  Macon,  63. 
of  Trent,  282. 
of  the  Vatican  (1870),  486. 
Councils,   Conciliar    Movement,    243, 

244. 

Counter-Reformation,  249,  262,  282. 
Country,  37,  158,  164,  168. 
Craft,  -s,  27,  32,  43,  44,  160,  196. 
Craft-guilds,  198,  211,  212,  292,  444. 
Crete,  -an,  20,  28. 
Crimea,  18,  19. 
Cromlech,  20. 
Crusades,  130,  131,  141,  142,  144,  146, 

147,  185,  209,  210,  218. 
Culture,  4-7,  106,  145,  277,  406,  416, 
419,  434,  487,  512,  524,  525,  528, 
529,  530 ;  see  also  Civilization. 
Customs  Union,  464. 
Czechs,  156,  172,  250. 

Dagalaif,  93. 

Dahlmann,  466. 

Dahn,  Felix,  499. 

Dance,  30,  153,  221. 

Daniel,  prophet,  104. 

Danneker,  427. 

Dante,  243. 

Danube,  49,  73,  167,  171,  173. 

Danzig,  353;  see  Marienburg. 


536 


INDEX 


Darwin,  494,  525. 

Delft,  346. 

Denmark  (see  also  Jutland),  Danish, 

Danes,  21,  92,  289,  290,  427,  468. 
Descartes,  343,  345,  410. 
Deutsch,  74,  109,  110. 
Diesbach,  353. 
Discoveries,     Inventions,      Technical 

Progress,  193,  197,  198,  199,  224, 

233,  243,  289,  351-354,  394,  395, 

507,608. 
Dohm,  388. 
DoUart,  164. 
Dortrecht,  164. 
Dostojewsky,  522. 
Drave,  173. 
Dresden,  267,  353. 
Drink,  42,  161,  219,  221,  289,  340. 
Duel,  64,  65,  124. 
Duke,  Duchies,  55. 
Durer,  Albrecht,  233,  294. 
Dusseldorf,  166. 
Dutch,  see  Holland. 

East-Albingian,  168,  171-174;  see 
also  Elbe. 

East  Mark,  171 ;  see  Austria,  Poland. 

Ebers,  499. 

Eckart,  243. 

Education,  45,  56,  126,  129,  159,  215, 
254,  255,  258-271,  277,  289,  328, 
336,  337,  349,  350,  366,  393,  395, 
416,  435,  444,  445,  449-451,  508, 
515,  525,  526. 

Eichendorf,  506. 

Eichhom,  405. 

#fte,river,20,36,79, 156, 171, 172,173. 

Eliot,  Charles  W.,  516. 

Elizabeth  of  Baden-Durlach,  339. 

Elizabeth  Charlotte  d'Orleans,  339. 

Emser  Punktation,  397. 

Engels,  Friedr.,  494. 

England,  English,  36,  53,  58,  63,  79, 
86,  92,  125,  165,  193,  201,  229, 
230,  280,  289,  290,  247,  248,  313, 
320,  328,  331,  343,  361,  362,  365, 
367,  393,  395,  405,  408,  431,  455, 
482. 

Enlightenment,  see  Rationalism. 

Erasmus,  261,  345. 

Erck,  506. 

Erfurt,  194,  289. 

Ernst  of  Gotha,  349. 

Eschenbach,  Wolfram  von,  46,  147, 
153,  154. 


Estates,  229,  230,  231,  281,  322,  468. 
Esthland,  287. 
Ethelings,  see  Nobility. 
Eucken,  Rud.,  516,  525. 
Eugene  of  Noyes,  197. 
Eugenie,  Empress,  478. 
Eugenius,  93. 

Exhibitions,  see  Brussels,  Paris,  Phila- 
delphia. 
Eyb,  Albrecht  von,  224,  225-227. 

Fahrenheit,  353. 

Fehderecht,  see  Duel,  Law. 

Ferdinand  I,  250,  276. 

Feudal  System,  111-124,  136,  139, 
320  325 

Feudalism,  172,  297,  319. 

Feuerbach,  L.,  495. 

Fichte,  J.  G.,  452,  453,  494. 

Finns,  -4sh,  13,  27. 

Flanders,  145,  171,  193,  194,  273. 

Flemings,  36,  172. 

Floods  of  North  Baltic  Seas,  163-167. 

Florence,  182. 

Floras,  11. 

Foehse,  Marie  Louise,  340. 

Food,  42,  43,  161,  162,  163,  219-221, 
354. 

France,  French,  13,  17,  60,  93,  142, 
143,  144,  145,  152,  154,  158,  193, 
204,  229,  241,  273,  276,  286,  297, 
320,  323,  333,  343,  345,  360,  361, 
367,  369,  370,  371,  393,  395,  405, 
408,  413,  432,  433,  443,  447,  451, 
454,  455,  463,  464,  468,  478,  479, 
486. 

Francis  I  of  France,  276,  286. 

Franciscans,  see  Monasteries. 

Francke,  A.  H.,  366,  367. 

Francke,  Kuno,  89. 

Franco-German  War  of  1870-1871, 
13,  478,  479,  503. 

Frankfort  on  the  Main,  280,  302,  364, 

456,  470,  471. 
Parliament,  471,  480. 

Franklin,  Benj.,  399. 

Franks,  Prankish,  40,  86,  89,  91,  93, 
99-104,  111,  125,  134,  172,  176, 
184,  192. 

Fredegund,  101. 

Frederick  I,  Emperor,  146,  185,  186, 
478,  507. 

Frederick  II,  Emperor,  106,  185,  186, 
319. 

Frederick  I  of  Prussia,  324,  387. 


INDEX 


537 


Frederick  II,  the  Great,  of  Prussia, 

350,  359,  360,  373,  376,  378-393, 

396,  397,  400, 403,  429,  432,  438, 

442,  443,  447,  454,  471. 
Frederick    William   of   Brandenburg, 

349,  350,  351,  378,  387. 
Frederick  William   I,  323,   325,   326, 

330,  373,  376-378. 
Frederick  William  II,  391,  414. 
Frederick  William  III,  442. 
Frederick  William  IV,  466,  471,  474. 
Freedmen,  54. 
Freemen,  54,  55,  57,  113,  114,  122, 

197,  248. 
Freiligrath,  469. 
French,  see  France. 
Freytag,     Gustav,     304,     365,     499, 

502. 

Friede,  51,  63,  65,  208. 
Friesland,  122,  166,  171. 
Frisians,  66,  91,  122,  166,  240. 
Fugger,  182,  248,  249,  268,  276,  278. 
Fulda,  city,  125,  129. 

river,  156. 

Fiirsten,  see  Princes. 
Furth,  465. 

Gotten,  St.,  125,  129. 

Gallus,  St.,  125. 

Gaul,  74,  75,  79,  80,  82,  83,  86,  91, 

113,  125. 

Gefolgschaft,  see  Retinue. 
Geibel,  501. 
Gellert,  399-401. 
Genseric,  93. 
Gerhard,  Paul,  310. 
German    Americans,    347,    348,    418, 

456,  463. 
German  Idealism,  343,  345,  373,  391, 

400,  401,  404,  418,  419,  427,  428, 

443^52,  455,  459,  460,  469,  471, 

474,  507,  512,  528-531. 
German  Religion,  see  German  Idealism, 

Religion. 
Germanic  and  German,  108,  109,  247, 

248. 

Germanic  Branch  of  Nations,  27-96. 
Subdivisions,  35,  36,  72,  73,  79,  86. 
Urheimat,  27,  28. 
Gervinus,  466. 
Ghent,  194. 
Gluck,  401,  425. 
Gobineau,  12. 
Goethe,  166,  239,  314,  317.  363,  364, 

394,  410,  416,  419,  420,  421,  425, 


428,  436,  437,  450,  458,  498,  499, 

500,  506,  525. 
Goldsmith,  O.,  399. 
Goslar,  180,  205. 
Goth,  -s,  -ic,  22,  56,  73,  83,  131. 
Gotha,  433. 

Gothic  style,  204,  205. 
Gotland,  20,  194. 
Gottfrid  of  Strassburg,  147. 
Gdttingen,  362,  466. 
Gottschalk,  Count,  239. 
Gottsched,  332. 
Government,  55,   102,   103,   114,  123, 

185,  186,  197,  208,  209,  228,  229, 

230,  281,  282,  285,  318,  322,  361, 

362,  390,  431,  432,  444,  462,  463, 

468,  475,  476,  480,  481,  482,  483, 

512,  515-517,  518. 
See  also  Bureaucracy,  Officials. 
Graeco-Roman  civilization,  9,  30,  73, 

83,  145. 
Graff,  426. 

Great  Britain,  see  England. 
Great  Elector,  see  Frederick  William 

of  Brendenburg. 
Greek,  Greeks,  Greece,  3,  61,  71,  82, 130, 

268,    328,    403,    426,   427,   435, 

444. 

Gregory  of  Tours,  99,  101,  134. 
Gregory  VII,  58,  138. 
Gregory  IX,  106,  240. 
Gregory  XIII,  288. 
Grillparzer,  499. 
Grimm,  J.  and  W.,  405,  466. 
Grobianus,  -ism,  149,  288. 
Grotius,  Hugo,  345,  369. 
Grilndler,  352. 
Guelphs,  185. 
Guericke,  352. 
Guilds,  195,  444. 
Guizot,  405. 

Gundling,  N.  H.,  356,  357. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  301. 
Gutenberg,  Job.,  199. 

Habsburg,    house    of,   150,  249,  272, 

361,  396. 

Habsburg,  Rudolf  von,  230. 
H&ckel,  525. 
Haendel,  314,  315. 
Hague  Conference,  346. 
Halle,  44,  194,  267,  353,  357,  366,  369, 

371,  372,  380. 

Haller,  Abrecht  von,  395,  407. 
Hambacher  Volkstest,  463. 


538 


INDEX 


Hamburg,  194,  280,  310,  354,  364,  373, 

380,  395. 
Hand,  484. 

Hanover,  362,  374,  466. 
Hansa,  181,  195,  280,  290. 
Hans  Sachs,  282,  294. 
Hardenberg,  451. 
Harlem  Sea,  165.  • 

Harnack,  A.,  430. 
Hartmann,  Ed.  v.,  497. 
Hartmann,  M.,  469. 
Hare  Mts.,  180. 
Haupt,  Albrecht,  202. 
Hauptmann,  Gerh.  and  Karl,  450. 
Hauisch,  352. 
Haydn,  317,  401,  425. 
tfetaeZ,  499,  503. 
Hebrew,  Hebrews,  3,  328. 
Hecker,  470. 
#e0eJ,  453,  494,  495. 
Hehn,  V.,  19,  37,  44,  161. 
Heidelberg,  273,  289,  303,  353. 
Heine,  134, 166, 365, 458,465,499-501. 
Helgoland,  166. 
Heliand,  88,  238. 
#enn/ 1,  143,  176,  183. 
Henry  III,  138. 
#enn/  IV,  135,  138,  184. 
Henry  V,  136. 
ffenn/  VI,  183. 
Henry  II  of  France,  287. 
Henry  of  Lower  Bavaria,  286. 
Henry  the  Lion,  185. 
Hercynian  Forest,  73,  87. 
Herder,  5,  317, 404, 405, 408, 419, 421, 

425. 

Heretics  persecuted,  240,  241. 
Herwegh,  469. 
Herz,  507. 
Hesse,  162. 
Hessians,  323. 
Heumann,  J.  H.,  357. 
Hildebrand,  see  Gregory  VII. 
Hildegard,  242,  338. 
tftrt,  H.,  15,  16,  17,  23,  25,  26. 
#i>zeJ,  365. 
History,  conception  of,  4,  12, 133, 187, 

235,  236,  526. 
Hochstetter,  182,  278,  292. 
Hoffmann  von  Fallersleben,  469. 
Hohenstaufen,  house  of,  184, 235, 241 ; 

see  also  Frederick  I,  II. 
Hohenzollern,  house  of,  287,  351,  378, 

391. 
Holbein,  232,  294. 


Holland,  35,  164,  165,  171,  172,  272, 

280,  290,  339,  345,  350. 
Hollandsch  Diep,  166. 
Homer,  28,  71,  435. 
Houses,  see  Architecture,  Building. 
Hoyer,  Anna  Owena,  339. 
Hrabanus  Maurus,  129,  311. 
Hrosvith  v.   Gandersheim,   130,   132, 

338. 

Huguenots,  272,  350. 
Humanism,  253,  258-261,  271,  274, 

328. 

new,  415,  437,  443. 
Humboldt,  Al.  von,  180,  405,  425. 
Humboldt,  Wilh.  von,  405,  425,  430, 

451. 
Hungarians,  Hungary,  172,173,  176; 

see  also  Mongolians. 
Huns,  73,  94. 
Huss,  248,  250. 

Ibsen,  522. 

Iceland,  36. 

Idealism,  see  German  Idealism. 

Iffland,  436. 

Ikonium,  185. 

India,  9,  193,  296. 

Indo-European,  9,  10-26,  186. 

Indo-Germanic,  see  Indo-European. 

Indo-Iranians  =  Aryans,  18. 

Industry,  199,  292,  394,  395,  461,  462, 

474,  491,  494,  504,  511,  515. 
Influence,  Foreign,  152,  164,  201,  203, 

218,  226,  229,  271,  276,  277, 285, 

296,  299,  328,  329,  401,  408,  499. 
English,  334,  365,  373,  374,  381, 

399,  401,  408. 
French,  144, 148,  152,  164,  203,  218, 

324,  327-334,  351,  375,  402,  408, 

443,  499. 
Roman,  34,  70,  92,  93,  106, 107, 114, 

162,  164,  177,  203,  218,  226,  233. 
Innocent  III,  241. 
Innocent  VIII,  241. 
Inquisition,  240. 
Institoris,  489. 
Inventions,  see  Discoveries. 
Iran,  26. 

Ireland,  Irish,  125,  163. 
Isabella  the  Catholic,  318. 
Isidorian,  see  Pseudo-Isidorian. 
Italian,  -s,  192,  226,  229,  313,  401. 
Italy,  28,  49,  82,  86,  91,  106,  203,  258, 

271,  314,  436,  484,  489. 
Ivan  the  Terrible,  290. 


INDEX 


539 


Jahde,  river,  165. 

Jahn,  Fr.,  L.,  215,  452,  455. 

Japanese,  156. 

Jean  Paul  (Richter),  436. 

Jena,  261,  418,  442,  451. 

Jerusalem,  141,  185. 

Jesuits,  see  Monasteries. 

Jews,   115,   142,   182,   192,  209,  210, 

231,  287,  288,  444,  471,  474,  500, 

503,  504. 
Jordan,  499. 

Joseph  II,  380,  381,  396,  397. 
Journalism,  355,  371,  374,  395,  396, 

399,  440,  518. 

Julian,  Julianus  Apostata,  93. 
Justinian,  227,  311. 
Jutes,  92. 
Jutland,  16,  25;  see  Denmark. 

Kalwe,  395. 

Kant,  237,  317,  375,  381,  404,  408- 

414,  421,  425,  429,  430,  441. 
Karl,  see  Charles  the  Great. 
Karl  Martell,  102,  116,  142. 
Karlings,  102,  103,  104,  108,  134,  154, 

175,  176,  197,  209. 
Keller,  Gottfried,  499. 
Kelt,  -s,  -ic,  18,  26,  35,  38,  44,  57,  59, 

73,  74-76,  80,  180,  232. 
Kepler,  310,  342,  352. 
Kimbers,  73-79. 
Kirchhoff,  507. 
Kiwik,  monument,  29. 
Kleist,  H.  von,  499. 
Klopstock,  314,  315,  402,  425. 
Knossos,  20. 
Koln,  81,  100,  175,  192,  193,  221,  223, 

245,  362. 

Konigsberg,  18,  413. 
Konrad  of  Marburg,  240. 
Korner,  437. 

KSstlin,  A.  H.,  312,  314,  315,  317. 
Kossinna,  G.,  15,  19. 
Kotzebue,  436. 
Kracow,  194. 
Kratzenstein,  395. 
Kreuzer,  506. 
Kroats,  300,  301. 
Kudrun,  7,  153. 
Kuhnau,  314. 

Kultur,  Kulturgeschichte,  see  Culture. 
Kyffhauser,  186,  478,  507. 

Labienus,  82. 

Labor,  Laborer,  90,  113,  122,  127,  157, 


158,  292,  293,  413,  462, 484,  489- 

491,  509,  510,  520-522. 
Lamprecht,   Karl,   52,   62,    153,   206, 

256,  405. 
Landesherr,    see    Territorial    Prince, 

Lord. 
Land  holding,  ownership,  51,  111,  112, 

113,    118,    124,    126,    157,    158, 

170. 

Lange,  F.  A.,  497. 
Langobards,  22,  83,  103,  108;  see  also 

Lombardy. 
Language,  Germanic,  German,  23,  24, 

27,    30,    33;    67,   94,    109,    132, 

152,  204,  244,  255-257,  273,  330, 

331-333,  334,  362,  371,  402,  499, 
Latin,  67,  131,  152,  215,  259,  274,  328. 

333. 

nations,  see  Romance. 
Lautverschiebung,  23,  24. 
Law,  56,  60,  63-67,  90,  94,  101,  102, 

118,  121,  124,  150,  177,  207,  210, 

224,  228,  229,  233,  281,  283,  322. 
Roman,  60,     101,     102,     226-229, 

294,  295,  297,  318,  322,  384,  482, 

489,  491. 

International,  346,  347,  448. 
natural,  346,  347,  369. 
Layamon,  73. 
Lehnsmann,  117. 

Lehnswesen  (Feudal  System),  116. 
Leibl,  505. 
Leibniz,  310,  315,  331,  339,  343-345, 

352,  371,  410,  440. 
Leipzig,  194,  353,  364,  371. 
Lemberg,  194. 
Leasing,  314,  315,  317,  333,  377,  390, 

401-404,  419,  425,  426. 
Leo  III,  104,  134. 
Leopold  of  Dessau,  340. 
Letto-Lithuanians,  18. 
Leuwenhoek,  353. 
Liberalism,  438,  455,  457,  467,  468, 

475-477,  485,  486,  487,  488,  489, 

515,  516,  517;   see  also  Political 

Parties. 

Lieber,  Fr.,  456. 
Liebig,  507. 
Limburg  Chronicle,  61. 
Lisbon,  194. 

List,  Friedrich,  456,  464,  465. 
Literature,  30,  31,  47,  48,  67,  88,  131, 

132,  151-154,  166,  225,  256,  257, 

283,  287,  310,  371,  375,  400-407, 

412,  435,  437-440,  451,  458,  466, 


540 


INDEX 


469,  494,  498-503,  522-524,  525; 

see  also  Poetry,  Songs. 
Lithuanian,  -s,  23. 
Livonia,  287. 
Locke,  344. 
Lombards,  192. 
Lombardy,  103,  106. 
London,  193,  194. 
Loss  of  territory,  286,  287,  304,  305, 

347,  448,  454. 
Lothmann,  E.,  297. 
Lothringians,  108. 
Lotze,  497. 

Louis  XIV,  319,  322,  329,  456,  479. 
Louis  Philippe,  468. 
Louise  Henriette  v.  Brandenburg,  324, 

339 

Lubeck,  194,  224,  226. 
Lucerne,  265. 
Ludwig,  499,  503. 
Luitbrand,  108. 
.Lurer,  29,  30,  311,  313. 
Luther,  135,  217,  225,  234,  235-238, 

241,  246-255,  259,  273,  279,  281, 

282,  283,  288,  289,  343,  347,  357, 

362,  369,  410,  480,  486. 
Lutheran,  see  Protestantism. 

Maas,  river,  290. 

MachiaveUi,  319. 

Macpherson,  399. 

Magdeburg,  194. 

Magyars,  see  Hungarian, 

Main,  river,  36,  173. 

Mainz,  193. 

Makart,  504. 

Mannegold,  338. 

MarcA  FieW,  230. 

Maria  Theresa,  396. 

Marienburg,  Danzig,  205. 

Marignano,  battle,  268. 

Marius,  75-77. 

Markgenossenschaft,  see  Village  Com- 
munity. 

Markgraf,  395. 

Marlitt,  499. 

Marriage,  Matrimony,  54,  60,  61,  62, 
63, 81, 148, 220, 224, 253, 374, 425. 

Marx,  Karl,  495. 

Mar^,  the  Catholic,  240. 

Materialism,  410,  494,  497,  525. 

Mayence,  see  Mainz. 

Mayer,  Robert,  507. 

Maximilian  I,  355. 

Maximilian  II,  291. 


Mazarin,  322,  329. 

Mechthildis  of  Magdeburg,  242,  338. 

Mecklenburg,  22,  230,  517. 

Medardus,  St.,  88. 

Mediterranean,  see  Grceco-Roman. 

Meissen,  265,  353. 

Meissner,  469. 

M#oc,  273,  300. 

Melanchthon,  253,  261,  264. 

Menapians,  80. 

Mendelssohn,  Moses,  387,  388. 

Mendelssohn-Bartholdi,  506. 

Mendicant  Orders,  see  Monasteries. 

Menhir,  20. 

Menno,  Simon,  280. 

Mentz,  see  Mainz. 

Menzel,  505. 

Merchant-guilds,  see  Guilds. 

Merovings,  -ians,  88,  93,  99-102,  104, 

144,  193,  194,  200,  217. 
Mettemich,  454. 
Afete,  287. 
Meyer,  Tobias,  395. 
Meyerbeer,  506. 
Af#an,  268,  355. 
Militarism,  see  Military  Service. 
Military  Service,   55,   119,   123,   150, 

176,  230,  296,  320,  321,  364,  445- 

449,  475,  476,  482,  515. 
Mining,  44,  160,  180,  181,  293. 
Ministerial,  117, 119,211;  see  Officials. 
Mississippi,  173. 
Mode  of  Life,  47,  48,  217,  219,  220, 

221,  334,  335,  365,  394,  457. 
Moeser,  394. 

Mohammedans,  130,  146,  185. 
Moleschott,  495,  525. 
Monarchy,  Monarchism,   55,   56,  58, 

102,  103,  104,  105,  117,  228,  230, 

282,  319,  322,  334,  335,  347,  350, 

376,  379,  382,  383,  384,  386,  472, 

495,  515,  517. 
Monasteries,  125-132,  159,  160,  171, 

231,  240,  241,  242,  244,  249,  252, 

262,  282,  283,  339-381,  396,  457, 

485. 
Money,   Coinage,  48,  114,  181,    182, 

200,  482. 

Mongolians,  143,  171,  176. 
Monks,  see  Monasteries. 
Montesquieu,  55,  111. 
Moorish,  202. 
Moors,  102. 
Morals,  Morality,  243,  247,  289,  338, 

368,  369,  374,  411,  412,  440,  531. 


INDEX 


541 


Mdricke,  499. 

Mosel,  Moselle,  49,  122,  172. 

Mozart,  317,  421,  425. 

Much,  M.,  15,  19. 

Munchen,  194. 

Munich,  see  Munchen. 

Munster,  280. 

Munzer,  280. 

Music,  28,  29,  32,  33,  96,  152,  153, 

217,  310,  311-317,  401,  426,  505, 

506. 

Mykene,  28. 
Mysticism,  32,  62,  68,  69,  226,  242- 

244,  310,  401,  525. 
Mythology,  see  Religion. 

N&geli,  506. 

Names,  108,  223,  293. 

Napoleon  I,  101,  276,  418,  439,  442, 
443,  452,  453,  454,  455,  458,  471. 

Napoleon  III,  478. 

National  feeling,  life,  spirit,  9,  11,  51, 
107,  108,  214,  215,  277,  287,  379, 
388,  393,  402,  418,  431,  455,  460, 
462,  463,  464,  471,  473,  493,  500, 
501,  512,  524,  525;  see  Separa- 
tism. 

Nature,  love  for,  69,  174,  217,  343, 
406,  418. 

Naumburg,  266,  267. 

Neolithic  Age,  20,  27,  28. 

Netherlands,  258,  271,  272,  273,  288, 
294,  298,  313, 343,  357,  366;  see 
Holland. 

Netze,  river,  390. 

New  England,  43,  53. 

Newton,  344,  380. 

New  York,  68. 

Nibelungenlied,  7,  58,  152. 

Nicolai,  456. 

Niebuhr,  405,  420. 

Nietzsche,  513,  523,  525. 

Nikolaus  Cusanus,  243. 

Nobility,  56,  102,  103,  151,  279,  285, 
296,  326,  335,  364,  385,  386,  444, 
445,  515,  519. 

Norderney,  166. 

Ndrdlingen,  302. 

Normans,  92,  135,  204. 

North  German  Federation,  478,  480. 

Northmark,  171. 

North  Sea,  14,  25,  165,  173. 

Norway,  36. 

Novalis,  438. 

Novgorod,  194. 


Nurnberg,  192,  224,  226,  244,  250, 
292,  349,  3M,  352,  353,  354,  465. 

Oder,  river,  20,  36,  49,  73,  269,  390, 

Odoacer,  see  Odowakar. 

Odowakar,  82,  93. 

Officials,  116,  117,  119,  151,  228,  229, 
318,  325,  330,  377,  379,  384,  390, 
391,  494,  516,  517,  518,  519. 

Opitz,  310,  314. 

Orange,  see  Aransio. 

Orders  of  chivalry,  149. 

Ore  Mts.,  180. 

Ornament,  200,  201,  427. 

Ornamentation,  see  Art. 

Ostrogoths,  36,  83. 

Otfrid,  88. 

Otto  I,  the  Great,  108,  109,  130,  135, 
184,  235. 

Otto  III,  106,  171. 

Padua,  227. 

Paine,  Thomas,  369,  431,  440. 

Painting,  201,  205,  232,  272,  273,  426, 

427,  504. 
Palestrina,  314. 
Pandures,  300. 
Paracelsus,  243,  244. 
Paris,  203,  204,  313,  432,  462,  503, 

511. 

Paschalis  II,  136. 
Pastorius,    Franz    Daniel,    247 ;    see 

also  German  Americans. 
Paternalism,  509. 
Paul  V,  252. 
Paulsen,  356. 

Peace  =  law  and  order,  see  Friede. 
Peasantry,  52,  53,  88,  121,  178,  221, 

279,  281,  282,  297,  318,  326,  363, 

385,  386,  387,  519. 
Pennsylvania,  348. 
Percy,  399,  404. 
Periodicals,  see  Journalism. 
Persia,  -n,  -8,  9. 
Pestalozzi,  416,  451. 
Peter,  St.,  Dominion  of,  134. 
Peter  the  Great,  323. 
Peirus  Lombardus,  311. 
Peurbach,  352. 
Pharsalus,  81,  82. 
Philadelphia,  347,  504,  511. 
Philology,  13,  18,  20,  21,  430. 

Germanistic,  439. 
Pietism,  347-349,  366,  367,  368,  372, 

397. 


542 


INDEX 


Pippin,  102,  103,  135,  181. 
Pirkheimer,  W.,  244. 

Pitiscus,  274. 

Pius  II,  223. 

Plato,  243. 

Platter,  264. 

Po,  river,  49,  75. 

Poefry,  30,  31,  46,  47,  152-154,  166, 
216,  426,  439,  450 ;  see  also  Lit- 
erature. 

Poggio,  131. 

Poland,  Poles,  156,  170,  192,  287,  389, 
390,  463. 

Political  Parties,  172,  394,  418,  429, 
438,  449,  462,  471,  475-476,  484- 
488,  509,  515-517. 

Politics,  Political  Life,  see  Govern- 
ment, Political  Parties. 

Pompey,  81. 

Pope,  the,  104,  123,  133-140,  239, 
240,  241,  244,  245,  282,  283,  287, 
397,  456,  486. 

Population,  157,  224,  283,  285,  298, 
304,  349,  389. 

Postal  Service,  354,  355,  482. 

Prog,  194,  226. 

Premonstratensians,  171. 

Prince  Electors,  231,  287. 

Princes,  56,  57,  122,  245,  250,  287, 
388,  453,  455,  457,  464;  see  Ter- 
ritorial Princes. 

Property,  Conception  of,  228. 

Protestantism,  240,  250,  252,  272,  282, 
287,  309,  338,  367,  372,  457,  467, 
486,  496,  497. 

Provence,  -c.al,  154. 

Prussia,  Province,  287. 

State,  350,  351,  356,  358,  377- 
393,  443-453,  464,  465,  467, 
468,  471,  474,  475,  476,  477,  478, 
489;  see  Brandenburg. 

Prussians,  Slav  tribe,  172. 

Prutz,  Robert,  469. 

Pseudo-Isidorian  Decretals,  136,  243, 
397. 

Public  Loans,  321. 

Publishers,  365. 

Pufendorf,  Samuel,  346,  347,  369, 
370. 

Punishment,  see  Law. 

Puritans,  68. 

Pyrenees,  75,  102,  103. 

Pytheas,  28,  35. 

Quakers,  348. 


Quatrefages,  de,  13. 
Quidde,  Ludw.,  513. 

Raabe,  499. 

Race  theories,  12,  13,  14,  204. 
Rachnachar,  100. 
Ranke,  257. 

Rationalism,  327,  354,  367-372,  397, 
398,  399,  410,  415,  432,  455,  456, 
497,  503. 
Ratzel,  17. 

Raudian  Fields,  see  Vercellce. 
Ravenna,  203. 
Ravensburg,  199. 
Rechtstaat,  see  Monarchy,  State. 
Redivitz,  501. 

Reformation,  135,  225,  238,  239,  246- 
254,  260,  261,  279,  281,  287,  292, 
309,  313,  347,  357,  367,  433,  496. 
Reformed  Church,  see  Protestantism. 
Regensburg,  182,  194,  363. 
Regiomontanus,  352. 
Reichenau,  129. 

Reichstag,  249,  250,  287,  291,  322,  361, 
449,  456,  480,  485,  486,  487,  514, 
515,  516,  517. 
Reinhold  of  Saalfeld,  354. 
Religion,  44,   65,  67-71,  78,   85,  87, 
88,  89,  117,  128,  133,  137,  147, 
238-246,  309,  381,  391,  400,  402, 
406,  412,  421,  496. 
Rembrandt,  272. 
Renaissances,  5,   108,  130,  185,  200, 

271,  273,  294,  426. 
Renan,  405. 

Repgow,  Eicke  v.,  209,  228. 
Rethel,  505. 

Retinue,  6,  57-59,  111,  151. 
Reuchlin,  261. 
Reuleaux,  504,  511. 
Reunion  of  Churches,  344,  457. 
Renter,  Fritz,  464,  502,  503. 
Revenues,  115,  482;  see  also  Taxation. 
Rheinbund,  453. 
Rhine,  river,  36,  79,  80,  143,  145,  164, 

166,  194,  203,  290. 
Rhone,  river,  28,  49,  73,  78,  83. 
Richar,  100. 
Richardson,  399. 
Richelieu,  322,  329. 
Richter,  Eugen,  484.  , 

Richter,  Ludwig,  505. 
Riemenschneider,  Dill,  294. 
Ripley,  15,  21. 
Rivers,  167. 


INDEX 


543 


Rohse,  M.,  294. 

Roland,  103. 

Roman,    Romans,    Rome     (ancient), 

Roman  Empire,  73,  74-83,    108, 

163,  187,  238,  239,  247. 
Roman  Empire  of  the  German  nation, 

102,  105. 

Roman  Law,  see  Law. 
Rome,  city,  106,   135;  see  also  Pope, 

Church,  Catholic. 

Roman  Catholicism,  see  Catholicism. 
Roman  Influence,  see  Foreign  Influ- 
ence. 
Romance  nations,  83,  84,  127, 137, 152, 

173,  204,  233,  253. 
Romanesque,  203,  204. 
Romanticism,  155,  437-440,  456,  457, 

465,  466,  471,  494,  501,  505,  506. 
Rone,  171. 
Rostock,  289. 

Rousseau,  J.  J.,  374, 405-407, 408, 439. 
Rubens,  273. 

Rudolf  August  of  Brunswick,  340. 
Rudolf  von  Schwaben,  58. 
Runes,  30. 
Runge,  Otto,  427. 
Russia,  -n,  17,  18,  19,  23,  69,  192,  287, 

389,  435,  452,  455,  466,  499. 

Saale,  river,  156. 

Sachsenspiegel,  see  Repgow. 

St.  Germain,  336. 

Saladin,  185. 

Saleph,  185. 

Salvianus,  82. 

Samo,  176. 

Sanskrit,  14,  439. 

Sapidus,  264. 

Saracens,  135,  142,  143. 

Saxons,  40,  73,  86,  91,  92,  103,  156, 

168,  171,  172. 
Scadia  =  Scandinavia,  28. 
Scandinavia,  -n,  16,  21,  22,  25,  26,  53, 

86,  192,  290,  499,  500. 
Scharnhorst,  451. 
Scheffel,  499,  502,  503. 
Scheldt,  164,  173,  290. 
Schelling,  494. 

Scherer,  Wilhelm,  315,  330,  464. 
Scherr,  Johannes,  67. 
Schiller,  73,  94,   168,  314,    317,  407, 

416,  419,  420,  421,  427,  428,  436, 

437,  439,  450,  452,  458,  474,  478, 

498,  499. 
Schinckel,  427. 


Schleiermacher,  427,  430,  453. 

Schleswig,  39,  78,  171,  468. 

Schleswig-Holstein,  468,  476. 

Schlettstadt,  264. 

Schlozer,  394. 

Schmidt,  Job.,  10,  16. 

Schoolmaster,  450,  451,  507. 

Schopenhauer,  A.,  473,  497. 

Schroder,  O.,  14. 

Schubert,  506. 

Schumann,  506. 

Schurmann,  Anna  Maria  von,  339. 

Schurz,  Carl,  472. 

Schutz,  Heinrich,  314. 

Schwartz,  Sybilla,  339. 

Schwertbruder,  193. 

Schwind,  Moritz  von,  505. 

Science,  174,  181,  232,  244,  260,  261, 

274,  275,  276,  310,  342-347,  395, 
412,  428,  429-431,  439,  462,  466, 
507,  508,  525,  527. 

Scotus  Erigena,  240. 

Sculpture,  205,  427,  504. 

Seegeberg,  171. 

Separatism  in  National  Life,  227,  274, 

275,  277,  362,  363,  468,  486,  527. 
Seguani,  80. 

Serfdom,  54,  113,  119,  121,  122,  279, 

297,  319,  376,  386,  443. 
Shakespeare,  247, 248, 402. 
Sickingen,  279. 
Siemens,  Werner,  507. 
Sigibert,  100. 
Sigismund,  150. 
Silanus,  74. 
Silcher,  506. 

Slavery,  44,  54,  122,  178. 
Slavs,  18,  26,  69,  73,  155,  156,  157, 

159,    170,    171,    172,    176,    194, 

233. 
Social   Democracy,  Social  Democrats, 

see  Socialists. 
Social  Welfare,  126,  269,  288,  491-498, 

509,  510. 
Socialism,  327,  429,  447,  449,  485, 488, 

489, 496,  509,  510,  516,  517,  520, 

527. 
Solingen,  323. 
Songs,  30,  31,  47,  67,  131,  153,  216, 

217,  451,  468,  502,  506;  see  Lit- 
erature. 

Sorbonne,  319. 
Spain,  Spaniard,  Spanish,  75,  82,  83, 

86,  91,  103,  272,  276,   301,  328, 

329,  355,  361. 


544 


INDEX 


Spalatin,  256. 

Specialization,  5,  526. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  363. 

Spener,  315,  347,  348,  367. 

Speyer,  194,  212. 

Spielhagen,  499. 

Spinoza,  343,  345,  356,  404,  525. 

Spreewald,  170. 

Sprenger,  241. 

Spyres,  see  Speyer. 

Stahl,  G.  E.,  353. 

State,  conception  of,  50,  213,  327,  382, 

386,  394,  406,  413,  510. 
Stavoren,  166. 
Stedinger,  240. 
Stein,  Freiherr  von,  451. 
Stone  Age,  see  Neolithic  Age. 
Stonehenge,  20. 

Storm  and  Stress,  405,  407,  437,  522. 
Strassburg,  194,  264,  355. 
Straus,  Richard,  506. 
Strauss,  D.  F.,  495,  497. 
Struve,  470. 
Students,  262,  289,  303,  361,  460,  461, 

502,  515. 
Sturm,  264. 
Sturmi,  156. 
Suabia,  122,  439. 
Sudermann,  450. 
Suevs,  -i,  =  ians,  56,  79,  81,  91. 
Suso,  243. 
Sweden,  -4sh,  -e,  287,  300,  301,  302, 

303,  354. 
Swerdiones,  40. 
Stfltss,  122,  168,  194,  230,  264,  265, 

268,  273,  298,  320,  405,  407,  435, 

451,  486. 
Switzerland,  see  Swiss. 

Tacitus,  8,  37,  57,  61,  68,  74,  111,  158, 
168,  195. 

Taine,  405. 

Talleyrand,  454. 

Tauler,  243. 

Taxes,  114,  209,  211,  230,  296,  377, 
387. 

Tencteri,  81. 

Ten  Eyck,  233. 

Territorial  Princes,  Lord,  151,  208, 
228,  230,  231,  277,  280,  281,  285, 
292,  295,  296,  318,  322,  335,  349, 
355,  361;  see  also  Government, 
Monarchy,  Princes. 

Tetzel,  248. 

Teutoburg  Forest,  battle,  78. 


Teuton,  -ic  (a)  =  German,  Germanic, 

74, 109, 110. 
(6)  Keltic  tribe,  74-79. 

Teutonic  Order,  149,  150,  172,  192, 
205,  287. 

Theodoric  the  Great,  93,  203,  239,  311. 

Theodoricll,  95,  311. 

Theodosius,  bishop,  130. 

Theodulf,  311. 

Theophano,  130. 

Theory  of  Life,  see  Weltanschaung. 

Thierry,  405. 

Thiers,  468. 

Thietmar  of  Merseburg,  106. 

Thoma,  Hans,  505. 

Thomas  Aquinas,  233. 

Thomas  a  Kempis,  226. 

Thomasin  von  Zirklaere,  238. 

Thomasius,  242,  333,  367,  370,  373. 

Thorwaldsen,  427. 

Thilrings,  Thuringians,  91,  103,  156, 
162,  173. 

Thum  and  Taxis,  355,  362. 

Tocquevitte,  de,  405. 

Tolstoi,  406. 

Toul,  287. 

Toulouse,  241. 

Tournai,  101. 

Transylvania,  172. 

Treue,  57,  58,  92. 

Treves,  see  Trier. 

Tribes,  tribal  duchies,  91, 108, 123. 

TVier,  241,  245. 

Tritheim,  199. 

Tubingen,  497. 

Turenne,  300. 

TwrJfcs,  141,  320. 

Twentieth  Century,  statements  refer- 
ring to,  5,  22,  58,  62,  65,  68,  149, 
325 

Type,  racial,  15, 16,  21, 27,  36,  37, 285. 

Tyrol,  122,  355. 

Ubii,  81. 

Uhland,  439. 

Ulfilas,  131,  177. 

Vim,  194. 

Ulrich  von  Hutten,  279. 

Ultramontane,  see  Catholic,  Political 
Parties. 

Unions,  see  Classes. 

United  States,  see  America. 

Universities,  226,  227,  260,  262,  263, 
277,  289,  356-358,  373,  382,  428, 
429,  459,  460,  461,  497,  526. 


INDEX 


545 


Urheimat,  14,  25,  155. 
Usipii,  81. 

Vagrants,  see  Students. 

Valens,  86. 

Valentinian,  93. 

Vandalism,  82. 

Vandals,  36,  82,  83,  93. 

FoasoZ,  -o0e,  111,  117,  123,  124,  151, 

230. 

Vedastes,  St.,  87. 
Veltheim,  346. 
Venice,  194,  211. 
VercelloB,  76. 
Verdun,  287. 
Versailles,  339,  340. 
FestoZ  Virgins,  77. 
Vico,  5,  405. 
Ftenna,  194,  289,  354. 
Vienna  Congress,  454,  455,  456. 
Fiew;  oftheWorld,  seeWeltanschauung. 
Vikings,  79. 
Village  community,  42,  51,  52,  53,  195, 

207,  228. 
Fineta,  166. 
Virchow,  484,  487. 
Virginia,  University  of,  456. 
Visby,  20,  194. 

Visigoths,  36,  82,  83,  86,  93,  239. 
Vistula,  river,  18,  36,  155,  390. 
Vogt,  Karl,  495,  525. 
Volcae,  35,  73. 
Volga,  river,  14,  19. 
Volkslied,    154,   216,   217,   310,  313, 

506. 

Voltaire,  380. 
Vosges  Mts.,  180. 
Foss,  T.  H.,  363. 

Wagner,  Richard,  67,  275,  404,  421, 

455,  505,  506. 
Walafrid  Strabo,  129. 
Wallburgen,  20. 
Wattis,  264. 
Walls  of  Troy,  20. 
Walter  von  der  Vogelweide,  147,  149, 

153,  238. 
Warsaw,  194, 
Wartburg,  241. 

Washington,  George,  55,  358,  365. 
Weber,  Carl  Maria  von,  427,  506. 
Weier,  242. 
Weise,  Christian,  348. 


Wellentheorie,  10. 

Welser,  278. 

TFek/i,  35. 

Weltanschauung,   5,  46,  47,  71,   147, 

215,  344,  360,  365,  399,  403,  409, 

421,  427,  428,  437,  440,  462,  495, 

496,  498,  511,  515,  523,  525,  528, 

629,  530. 
Wends,  see  Slavs. 
Werden,  88. 

Werner,  A.  S.,  180,  395. 
Werner,  E.,  499. 
Werner,  Z.,  458. 
Wessenberg,  457. 
Westphalia,  80,  122,  162. 
Peace     of,     299,     304,    305,    318, 

361. 

Wetterau,  122. 
Wetzlar,  323. 
White,  Andrew  D.,  346. 
Wieland,  402. 
William  I.,  186,  474,   476,  477,  478, 

479,  484-492. 
William  II.,  499,  512-515. 
Wimpheling,  see  Wympheling. 
Winckelmann,  403,  404,  426. 
Winfred,  see  Boniface. 
Witchcraft,  241,  242. 
Wittenberg,  252,  261. 
Woehler,  FT.,  507. 
Wolf,  F.  A.,  405,  406. 
Wolff,  Chr.,  367,  371-373,  379,  380, 

410. 

Wollner,  391. 
Wollmann,  25. 
Women,  39,  61,  62,  63,  69,   148,  225, 

241,  338-340,  374,  426,  440,  452, 

526. 

Worms,  city,  192,  193,  212,  249. 
Wundt,  24. 
Wiirtemberg,  482 
Wycliffe,  248. 
Wympheling,  199,  294. 

Ximenes,  319. 
399. 


Zimmermann,  395. 

fa,  522. 
Zuider  Zee,  165. 
Zurich,  194. 
Zwingli,  259. 


2N 


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"  Bismarck  looms  large  in  the  second  volume,  as  he  is  destined  to  loom  in 
all  the  memoirs  of  biographies  still  to  come  of  the  Germany  of  the  second  half 
of  the  last  century,  and,  unfortunately,  the  impression  one  receives  of  the  per- 
sonality and  character  of  this  man  of  genius  grows  more  unfavorable  with  each 
new  revelation.  Hohenlohe's  report  of  the  Emperor's  account  of  his  final  rup- 
ture with  his  grandfather's  chancellor  is  still  too  fresh  in  the  mind  of  every 
American  newspaper  reader  to  need  repetition  here,  but  throughout  this  sec- 
ond volume  there  are  glimpses  of  a  man  of  imperious  intolerance  of  all  pow- 
ers besides  his  own,  capable  of  descending  to  the  pettiest  meannesses,  swayed 
by  the  smallest  jealousies.  Prince  Hohenlohe,  whose  revelation  of  himself  in 
these  memoirs  shows  him  to  have  combined  a  strong  pride  of  birth  with  a 
sane  liberalism  of  statesmanship,  asserts  that  the  dream  of  a  '  Bismarck  dy- 
nasty' was  very  real."  —  Independent. 

"  The  unexpectedness  of  the  Hohenlohe  Memoirs  is  almost  as  refreshing 
in  France  as  in  Germany.  They  are  not  ordinary  memoirs,  but  rather  tell- 
tale impressions  of  persons  and  things  in  the  Third  French  Republic  as  they 
were  felt  by  a  keenly  sensitive,  highly  trained,  and  experienced  observer.  No 
one  ever  dreamed  that  the  spare-framed,  brick-complexioned  German  ambas- 
sador, disinterested  rather  than  distinguished,  sitting  silent  for  the  most  part, 
with  lack-lustre  eyes  and  head  leaning  boredly  over  the  right  shoulder,  was 
taking  interior  notes  of  the  passing  show,  to  be  transcribed  by  night  with  dis- 
concerting frankness  and  left  to  be  printed."  —  New  York  Evening  Post. 


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England  and  Germany 

BY  AUSTIN  HARRISON 

Cloth,  8vo,  $.80  net 

The  volume  contains,  in  somewhat  enlarged  scope,  the  series  of  articles 
which  appeared  in  The  Observer,  and  attracted  widespread  attention 
both  in  and  out  of  England.  Though  essentially  political  in  design  and 
character,  with  the  object  of  giving  the  picture  of  the  economic  power 
of  modern  Germany,  actual  and  potential,  they  also  treat  of  many  phases 
of  German  life,  social  conditions,  the  press,  the  development  of  Social 
Democracy,  the  economics  of  State  Government,  policy  and  education, 
and  the  scientific  equipment  of  the  nation  towards  a  definite  political 
end.  In  these  articles  —  described  by  friend  and  foe  alike  as  brilliant  in 
style,  vivid  in  representation,  clear  in  thought  and  accuracy  —  Mr.  Austin 
Harrison  shows  us  New  Germany  —  what  she  is,  what  she  aspires  to  be, 
what  she  may  be ;  and  his  book  will  certainly  do  much  to  remove  the 
general  ignorance  which  undoubtedly  exists  in  this  country  on  the  sub- 
ject. The  articles  are  not  only  absorbing  reading,  but  they  are  full  of 
facts  and  knowledge,  and,  from  the  political  standpoint,  suggestive  to  a 
degree. 

History  of  Germany 

BY  W.  MENZEL 

3  volumes.    Each,  cloth,  izmo,  $1.00  net 

Home  Life  in  Germany 

BY  MRS.  A.  SIDGWICK 

With  16  illustrations,  cloth,  8vo,  $1.75  net 

For  some  time  past  Germany  has  of  all  countries  been  increasingly  the 
most  interesting  to  England,  not  only  as  a  Power,  but  as  a  State. 
Nearer  in  blood  as  we  are  to  the  Germans  than  to  any  other  people,  and 
akin  in  interests  and  ambitions,  it  follows  that  it  is  impossible  for  us  to 
know  too  much  about  this  people,  whether  we  consider  them  as  rivals  or 
as  friends.  In  the  present  volume  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  describe 
the  normal  life  of  Germany  as  it  is  lived,  not  by  her  soldiers  and  states- 
men and  financiers,  but  by  the  people  at  large.  The  reader  is  offered  a 
picture  sketched  rather  from  the  woman's  point  of  view  than  the  man's 
—  a  series  of  interiors  and  the  small  intimate  details  of  social  and  domes- 
tic life,  which,  though  small,  form  the  basis  of  the  national  prosperity. 
"  We  could  name  no  book  which  gives  a  pleasanter  and  more  easily 
read  description  of  the  daily  life  of  the  Germans.  It  has  observation, 
point,  lightness,  and  drollery."  —  Spectator. 

"A  brightly  written  and  extremely  interesting  book." —  Westminster 
Gazette. 

"The  most  readable  and  most  informing  book  about  Germany  that  has 
appeared  in  England  for  a  very  long  time."  —  Yorkshire  Post. 


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A  Short  History  of  Germany 

BY  ERNEST  F.  HENDERSON 

Cloth,  $2.50  net 

"  Founded  on  a  thorough  examination  of  original  documents  and  sources, 
we  here  find  the  great  figures  in  German  history  painted  as  we  must 
believe  they  really  were.  The  work  sheds  incidental  light,  not  only  on 
persons  but  on  movements,  some  of  which  seem  to  have  found  culmina- 
tion in  our  own  day."  —  The  Outlook. 


A  History  of  Greece 


BY  J.  B.  BURY, 

Regius  Professor  of  Greek  in  the  University  of  Dublin. 

Cloth,  $1.00  net 

"Excellence  in  a  historical  work  by  this  scholar  was  to  be  expected,  but 
the  charm  of  his  literary  style  and  clearness  of  expression  have  placed 
this  volume  at  the  head  of  single  volume  texts.  The  history  of  Greece 
is  considered  in  great  detail  from  the  political  and  constitutional  sides, 
but  special  emphasis  is  laid  on  the  literature,  art,  and  social  life." 

A  Student's  History  of  Greece 

BY  J.  B.  BURY.     REVISED  BY  EVERETT  KIMBALL 

Cloth,  $1.10  net 

"  This  volume,  a  condensation  of  Professor  Bury's  larger  work,  presents 
in  a  scholarly  manner,  such  details  of  Greek  history,  life,  letters,  and  art 
as  are  necessary  for  an  elementary  understanding  of  the  subject." 

A  History  of  Rome  to  the  Battle  of  Actium 
BY  EVELYN  S.  SHUCKBURGH 

Cloth,  $1.75  net 

The  author  has  presented  in  a  vivid  manner  the  story  of  the  gradual 
extension  of  power  of  a  single  city  over  a  large  part  of  the  known  world 
The  countries  conquered  and  the  details  of  the  conquest,  the  internal 
development  of  the  state,  and  the  constitutional  changes  that  resulted, 
are  all  clearly  set  forth  in  the  narrative  along  with  a  discussion  of  the 
development  of  literature  and  the  social  life.  The  book  is  grounded 
throughout  upon  the  old  writers. 


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BOOKS  ON  ROMAN  SOCIETY 


BY  W.  WARDE  FOWLER 
Social  Life  at  Rome  in  the  Age  of  Cicero 

Cloth,  illustrated,  8w,  $2.25  net 

A  notable  example  of  the  kind  of  history  that  deals  with  men  rather  than 
with  institutions  and  events  is  "  Social  Life  at  Rome  in  the  Age  of  Ci- 
cero," by  the  learned  scholar  and  fascinating  writer  W.  Warde  Fowler. 
The  book  was  originally  intended  as  a  companion  to  Professor  Tucker's 
"Life  in  Ancient  Athens";  but  it  grew  beyond  the  limits  of  that  volume 
because  of  the  wealth  of  material  Mr.  Fowler  felt  himself  compelled  to 
utilize.  As  the  author  points  out  in  his  preface,  there  is  no  book  in  the 
English  language  which  supplies  a  picture  of  life  and  manners,  of  educa- 
tion, morals,  and  religion,  in  the  intensely  interesting  period  of  the  Ro- 
man Republic.  The  age  of  Cicero  is  one  of  the  most  important  periods 
of  Roman  history,  and  the  Ciceronian  correspondence,  of  more  than  nine 
hundred  contemporary  letters,  is  the  richest  treasure-house  of  social  life 
that  has  survived  from  any  period  of  classical  antiquity. 

BY  SAMUEL  DILL,  M.A. 

Hon.  Litt.D.,  Dublin;   Hon.  LL.D.,  Edinburgh;    Hon.  Fellow  and  late  Tutor 
C.C.C.,  Oxford ;  Professor  of  Greek  in  Queens  College,  Belfast. 

Roman  Society,  from  Nero  to  Marcus  Aurelius 

Second  edition,  cloth,  8vo,  $2.50  net 

"  The  most  important  contribution  yet  made  in  English  to  our  knowledge 
of  the  way  in  which  all  classes  of  Roman  society,  including  the  aristocracy, 
the  plebeians,  the  freedman  and  the  slaves,  ordinarily  lived  in  the  rela- 
tively happy  age  of  the  Antonines  is  presented  in  this  admirable  work, 
not  one  of  whose  fifteen  chapters  is  devoid  of  illumination  and  fascina- 
tion. ...  It  should  be  distinctly  understood  that  this  work  is  the  prod- 
uct of  first-hand,  not  second-hand,  erudition  and  investigation.  .  .  .  This 
book  is  what  it  purports  to  be,  a  social,  not  a  political  history."  —  M.  W. 
H.  in  New  York  Sun. 

Roman  Society  in  the  Last  Century 
of  the  Western  Empire 

Second  edition,  cloth,  8vo,  $1.75  net 

"  We  want  to  emphasize  the  point  that  this  volume  is  not  a  mere  raking 
over  of  dry  bones,  with  nothing  but  an  antiquarian  interest  for  the  reader 
of  to-day.  It  is  more  vital  to  the  student  of  modern  social,  religious,  and 
political  tendencies  than  a  large  share  of  the  strictly  modern  sociological 
theses,  studies,  and  dissertations  now  issuing  in  such  profusion  from  the 
workshops  of  the  doctor-making  universities.  And,  aside  from  its  inhe- 
rent importance,  its  thoughts  are  so  lucidly  and  attractively  expressed  that 
no  intelligent  reader,  whether  a  Latinist  or  not,  can  fail  to  find  it  pleasant 
reading."  —  The  Evening  Post,  New  York. 

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